UPDATE: Parsons in 'Extremely Critical' Condition

Editor's note: This article was originally published at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. It has been updated since then.

UPDATE: Parsons passed away Thursday morning.

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Former Redondo Beach City Councilman and current Planning Commissioner John Parsons remains in "extremely critical" condition, according to Mayor Steve Aspel.

Parsons, 60, suffered a stroke at the end of Tuesday's City Council meeting. He  appeared uncharacteristically disoriented as paramedics from the Redondo Beach Fire Department attended to him in the lobby of the council chambers before transporting him to Little Company of Mary Hospital.

Aspel told Patch on Wednesday afternoon that Parsons' prognosis had improved slightly since the morning. 

"His vitals were coming back better," he said. 

Doctors at the hospital told Parsons' family that the former councilman had some bleeding in his brain in an inoperable location, said Aspel, who has been friends with Parsons since they were 6 years old.

Parsons, who was recognized as a Patch "Greatest Person" last year, is a well-recognized figure in Redondo Beach politics. In addition to his time on the Redondo Beach City Council and Planning Commission, Parsons is active in the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce and the South Bay Council of Governments.

"He's pretty remarkable in all the things he's done in the city, especially the air force base," Aspel said.

Parsons' family members are with him at the hospital, along with multiple friends, Aspel said. Still more friends have reached out to the family to express their support.

"They've had hundreds of calls," according to the mayor. "Hundreds and hundreds of calls."

The family requests that flowers not be sent. 

Patch will continue to follow Parsons' progress.

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