A Cal Lutheran University professor died Monday from injuries he suffered three days earlier in a head-on collision in Thousand Oaks. Police say the driver of the car that hit him was driving drunk.
Longtime Westlake Village resident Fred Rosenberg, 88, was a senior adjunct faculty member at CLU. He was teaching medical microbiology this semester.
Michael Seidman, a former Westlake High School and UCLA football star, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Ventura County court to one count of gross vehicular manslaughter and one count of driving on a suspended license for the Oct. 16 incident.
Seidman was already facing charges of driving under the influence stemming from an Aug. 4, 2019, incident in which prosecutors allege that he crashed a car near Avenida de Los Arboles and Westlake Boulevard then left, according to court records.
He was arrested Oct. 17 on suspicion of felony DUI causing injury, a charge that was upgraded following Rosenberg’s death.
Seidman, 39, one of the nation’s top tight ends when he came out of WHS in 1999, was being held at press time on $250,000 bail, according to the jail website.
Police say Seidman veered into Rosenberg’s path around 9:35 p.m. last Friday as he was heading north on Erbes Road between E. Hillcrest Drive and Hauser Circle.
The force of the collision totaled Rosenberg’s sedan and caused Seidman’s pickup truck to flip on its side. Both men had to be extricated from their vehicles and were taken to the hospital to receive medical care.
Rosenberg began teaching biology at CLU in 1999 after retiring from a 38-year career as a professor at Northeastern University in Boston and moving to California, university spokesperson Karin Grennan said.
“Fred was an affable and dependable colleague who brought deep and varied knowledge to the biology department,” Grennan told The Acorn. “He was a passionate teacher who was well-liked by his students.”
Rosenberg was among the first people to sign up for Westlake Village’s Volunteers in Policing program, according to a 2002 Acorn article.
Seidman, who grew up in Westlake Village, had a successful career at UCLA in which he caught 59 passes and seven touchdowns. He was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the third round of the 2003 NFL draft and played four seasons in North Carolina, making one Super Bowl appearance, followed by a season with the Indianapolis Colts. His career was cut short by knee injuries. In 2018, Seidman was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
While at WHS, he was named a Parade All-American tight end, a first-team USA Today High School All-American and the No. 14 overall recruit in the nation. He received first team All-CIF and All-State honors.
Since retiring from the NFL, Seidman has had a successful career in real estate. He works for Cushman & Wakefield, a global commercial real estate firm, in their West Los Angeles office, according to cushmanwakefield.com.
Seidman is due back in court Nov. 10.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.