Professor Phil Walker, a well-known UCSB anthropologist and husband of former Goleta Mayor Cynthia Brock, died Friday of a heart attack, the family said. He was 61.

Walker is best known for his work as the co-director of a comprehensive research project on Viking Age Iceland well as a large-scale project documenting the history of health in Europe from prehistoric times to the present. He has published numerous papers and had also performed forensic research on a homicide in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.

UCSB offered grief counseling services for Walker’s students, and a cremation service is planned for Monday afternoon.

“I am surrounded by close family and friends,” said Brock, as she and her friends and neighbors prepared for the services. “We’re a tight group.”