Robert J. Harris (mayor)

"Bob" Harris (October 5, 1930 – July 9, 2005) was a lawyer, professor, and mayor of the city of Ann Arbor in the U.S. state of Michigan.

Harris was elected Mayor of Ann Arbor on the Democratic ticket on April 7, 1969, defeating Republican candidate Richard E. Balzhiser.

During his second term in office, Harris worked with a liberal/radical coalition on city council, composed of four Democrats and two members of the local, left-wing Human Rights Party (HRP), who held the balance of power beginning in 1972.

The firm included, at various times, Bob Guenzel (later Washtenaw County Corporation Counsel, and then County Administrator), Ed Goldman (later general counsel of the University of Michigan Hospitals), and Jerry Lax (former Ann Arbor city attorney and candidate for a federal judicial appointment during the Clinton administration).

He also did extensive pro bono work for indigent individuals and for numerous groups, including Ozone House, Perry Nursery School and S.O.S.