Still at the Dunedin City Council table — but this time as a councillor — Mr Radich was to lead the infrastructure portfolio assigned to him by new mayor Sophie Barker.
This would have allowed him to ensure matters such as a "pipes and pumps" plan for the South Dunedin catchment remained on the radar after this was instigated under his own mayoralty.
"I’ve still got lots of things to get done for Dunedin, so I’m very focused on that and really looking forward to it, actually", Mr Radich said after last year’s election.
His death yesterday shocked his colleagues, and several commented he had been welcoming of new councillors as they looked to find their groove.
Others pointed to a key matter that consumed time and effort last term when he was mayor — advocating for the region’s new hospital to be built to suitable specifications.
Mr Radich was first elected as councillor in 2019 and served as Dunedin’s mayor from 2022 until elections in October last year. He lost the mayoralty but was re-elected as a councillor.
Advocacy for the new hospital, contributions towards "influential diplomacy" and working out how water services would be delivered into the future were highlights of his mayoral term, he told the ODT in his exit interview last year.
Other prominent themes included an unsuccessful push to have groynes reinstated at St Clair Beach and successfully arguing the state highway one-way system through Dunedin should remain.
He questioned aspects of the George St redevelopment, particularly converting three blocks to one-way traffic.
Mr Radich was born in Mataura and came to Dunedin to study for a science degree at the University of Otago.
He worked as a science and physics teacher in Napier before travelling overseas, which included time working as a surveyor in Thailand, Turkey and Egypt, his councillor profile said.
He returned to Dunedin and started Uptown Motorcycles in 1984, which he ran for 20 years before selling the business.
He managed the Golden Centre Mall for three years, and remained a director, before working as a business coach.
His council profile listed a love of motorcycle riding, sea fishing, diving and wine tasting. He also played underwater hockey.
In the 2022 election, after a term on council, Mr Radich led the Team Dunedin ticket and comfortably defeated then-incumbent mayor Aaron Hawkins.
His mayoralty was marred by a code of conduct breach in 2023, when he broke confidentiality and was found to have brought the council into disrepute during a radio interview in which he minimised an incident of racism from a community board chairman.
He described himself as a lifetime team sports player who chalked up wins.
"One never goes into a sports competition with the arrogance that one is going to win as of right", he said.
After the election he was disappointed but philosophical, and keen to continue to have input.
"It’s what happens and, you know, it’s happened for me — now it’s happening to me", Mr Radich said of winning and losing the mayoralty.
Despite finishing a distant fourth in the 2025 mayoral contest, Mr Radich returned to the council as the third-highest polling candidate.
