Former State Sen. Mike Crotts has died at age 75. 

Crotts represented a district that included Newton County in the State Senate for 12 years before redistricting placed him outside his district in 2004. 

While in the Senate, he was the chief sponsor of legislation that authorized a statewide vote on amending the Georgia Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. 

The measure was approved with 76% of the vote in 2004. A Fulton County court struck down the amendment in 2006 and the State Supreme Court overturned the ruling the same year. However, the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 2015, which legalized same-sex marriage in Georgia.

Crotts' death was announced by Gov. Brian Kemp Saturday in a tweet: "Marty, the girls, & I are saddened by the passing of our friend & a great Georgian, Mike Crotts. A former state senator, successful businessman, Coast Guard veteran, man of faith, & devoted husband & father, he served the people of our state well. We’re praying for his family."

Crotts owned a McDonough real estate company and was a Coast Guard veteran. He served Senate District 17 from 1992 to 2004 and was chair of the Senate Ethics Committee and vice chair of the powerful Senate Transportation Committee before redistricting eliminated his district and he made a failed run for Congress.

He then moved to Covington after his Henry County home was ruled outside the district lines and he made an unsuccessful bid for the District 17 seat before losing to Sen. John Douglas in 2008.

Crotts and his wife, Phyllis, later became public speakers and they authored the book "Dead for 34 Minutes" which chronicled their experience in faith and love and his brief stint with death.

According to a biographical note with the book, "Mike has been called to be a powerful voice in the church as he gives testimony to his miraculous return to life after death and an 'out-of-body' experience following a sudden heart block in October 1990."