Gardiner District 1 City Councilor Terry Berry speaks during a goal-setting session in 2020 at the Gardiner Public Library. Berry died this week. He was 69.  Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file

GARDINER — A sitting city councilor who has served for the past 10 years has died.

Terry Berry, 69, who was first elected to the Gardiner City Council in 2014 in an uncontested race, died Monday night as a result of cancer, Gardiner Mayor Patricia Hart announced.

Berry, the owner of Century 21 Alliance in Hallowell, also ran unsuccessfully in 2016 as a Democratic candidate for an open State Senate District 14 seat and cited affordable housing, taxes and education as topics of interest.

Berry, a Waterville native, said in a 2013 interview he decided to run for City Council because he wanted to help maintain the quality of life in Gardiner while ensuring that residents can afford it by keeping the tax rate flat. He said at the time that he had been a Gardiner resident since 2011.

In an email she sent Tuesday to the Gardiner City Council and city employees, Mayor Patricia Hart said Berry was a longtime business man, volunteer and advocate for people in need. He served on many city committees and civic group for more than five decades.

“He was a steady force on the council, keeping the taxpayers’ interests front and center and seeking compromise whenever possible,” Hart wrote. “Most importantly, he loved his family and friends, delighting them with home-cooked meals whenever he could. I hold his loved ones in my heart and wish them peace in their memories of this extraordinary man.”

He was first elected to the City Council in 2014 to represent District 1 and was reelected to four additional terms. His current term runs until January 2026 and city officials will soon announce plans to fill the council seat.

Berry’s experience as a real estate broker extended beyond four decades. He also owned a number of properties in central Maine. He was a member of the Kennebec Valley Board of Realtors, a Mason, a member of the Order of Elks and the Rotary.

In 2017, he was among those who purchased fire-damaged buildings on Gardiner’s historic Water Street. He rebuilt them to house retail space on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors.