Notable local deaths of 2025: Remembering those we lost

Dan McAllister, Dec. 17, 74

The county’s treasurer-tax collector who was elected in 2002 and re-elected five times before resigning in August.

He was a second-generation San Diego native who grew up in Pacific Beach and graduated from Mission Bay High. He was a rare combination — both a numbers guy and a people guy. He earned a bachelor’s in communications and journalism at Fresno State and later earned a master’s in business administration from what is now known as Alliant International University. He joined the Peace Corps and went to in the remote islands of Micronesia.

McAllister later returned to San Diego and worked briefly in radio at KFMB. He joined what was then the A.G. Edwards stock brokerage in La Jolla. By the early 2000s, he turned his gift for engaging people in conversation into a career in public service. He ran for the nonpartisan office of county treasurer-tax collector as a Republican against incumbent Bart Hartman and won.

Over the years, he joined regional and state treasurer and tax associations. He served on the county pension board, volunteered for charity boards and was quick to accept opportunities to talk about the county or the missions of other organizations.

Ted Cole, Dec. 14, 72

An eight-year member of the Vista City Council also known for his generosity and caring nature.He served on the City Council from 1990 to 1998 and was widely respected for his integrity, thoughtfulness, and steadfast commitment to the well-being of the city and its residents.

“Ted Cole served Vista with integrity, humility, and a genuine love for this community,” Mayor John Franklin said. “His eight years on the City Council reflected his strong values, thoughtful leadership, and deep sense of service.”

Dr. Thomas Andre Shiftan, Dec. 1, 79

An oncologist and trailblazer who co-founded the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, an institution that made nationwide headlines in 1993 for its push to use an experimental gene therapy to treat the brain tumor of La Mesa resident Clemma Hewitt. The approach proved prescient. Immunotherapy has long since revolutionized cancer treatment worldwide.

He served as chief of medicine at Sharp Memorial Hospital and as medical director of oncology from 1993 to 2011, when he retired.

Dan Gross, a former executive vice president at Sharp, said Shiftan cast a long shadow at the region’s largest medical provider. “Dr. Shiftan was a revered clinician, leader and mentor by physicians, nurses, staff, patients and administrators throughout Sharp HealthCare. His poise, empathy and intellect were lauded.”

Randy Jones, Nov. 18, 75

A dominating left-handed pitcher for the Padres and a fan-favorite. Jones was the franchise’s first 20-game winner, going 20-12 in 1975 with a league-leading 2.24 ERA to finish second to the Mets’ Tom Seaver in the National League Cy Young Award voting. He won the NL Cy Young a year later, when he went 22-14 with a 2.74 ERA. He led the NL that year in victories, innings pitched (315 1/3), starts (40) and complete games (25).

That last statistic is almost incomprehensible in today’s game. By comparison, Padres pitchers have combined for a total of 25 complete games over the past 16 seasons.

“He was the first big gate attraction for the Padres,” said longtime Padres executive Andy Strasburg.

“He was smart, had a great sense of humor and was accommodating. He earned the following that he had besides being successful.”

Daniel Tucker, Oct. 24, 73

A tribal leader who served for more than three decades on the council for the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, including four terms as chairman and three terms as vice chair.He also served as chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association and co-chair of the National Indian Gaming Association in a pivotal time in the 1990s, when Native American tribes were fighting for the right to offer casino gambling on their sovereign land.

His efforts to guarantee tribes the ability to offer Vegas-style gambling benefited people on reservations throughout the nation by helping them ensure self-sufficiency and gain resources that allowed them to reclaim important aspects of Native American culture, said Adam Day, chief administrative officer with the Sycuan Tribal Government.

Bob Laurence, Oct. 12, 84

A television and arts critic for The San Diego Union-Tribune for 35 years. Laurence worked at the U-T from 1970 until his retirement in 2006, first briefly covering news, sports and music before settling into a long and fruitful career as a TV critic.

He covered state government for the United Press International wire service in Sacramento, before joining The San Diego Union (which became the U-T in 1992 when it merged with its sister paper, The Evening Tribune).

Among Laurence’s most memorable stories over the years were interviews with Walter Cronkite, Chuck Berry and Bob Dylan. He covered Richard Nixon’s 1972 campaign, wrote sports stories on the Padres and the Olympics, and penned articles on deadline about the O.J. Simpson car chase, the 9/11 attacks and the deaths of John Lennon, Princess Diana, and wrote an acclaimed obituary on Frank Sinatra.

“Whether covering music, TV, politics or any subject in between, Bob wrote with consistent skill, insight and wit,” said U-T music critic George Varga, who was Laurence’s colleague from 1982 to 2006. “Bob was an old-school journalist in the best possible way: tenacious, talented, endlessly curious and always eager to inform and enlighten readers.”

Neal Hook, Oct. 1, 101

A longtime Escondido fifth-grade teacher who fought in World War II and wrote about it in a memoir, some of which appeared in the 2018 edition of National Geographic’s book, “Eyewitness To World War II: Unforgettable Stories From History’s Greatest Conflict.”

He joined the Army early in 1943 and was deployed to the South Pacific as a rifleman in the 31st Infantry in spring 1944. He spent 22 months on the islands of New Guinea, Morotai and Mindanao, in the Philippines. He described close encounters with Japanese soldiers in the jungle and explosions so close that he had shrapnel scars his whole life.

Hook’s 11-page memoir is on a website, The World War II Experience, a local nonprofit that preserves the stories of the World War II Generation. The nonprofit was founded by retired Palomar College history professor Linda Dudik, who encouraged Hook and other World War II veterans to write down their experiences.

In 2017, an editor at National Geographic chose some pages from Hook’s story for the 2018 “Eyewitness To World War II” book.

Mike Wofford, Sept. 19, 87

A keyboard master who collaborated with such jazz giants as Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass, Charlie Haden and Oliver Nelson. He earned international acclaim traveling the world as the pianist and musical director for vocal legends Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.

Wofford, a San Diego resident since he was a child,was a musician for all seasons. He was equally adept performing with such Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees as John Lennon, James Brown, B.B. King, Roger McGuinn, Joan Baez, The Four Tops, Cher, Donna Summer, The Ventures and Dion. He also collaborated with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and was featured on an array of film and TV soundtracks, from “The Godfather Part II” and “Sweet Charity” to “Hawaii Five-0” and “The Bill Cosby Show.”

He was inducted into the San Diego Music Hall of Fame in 2003.

“Mike was one of the greatest pianists on the planet, without a doubt,” said bass great Bob Magnusson, also a San Diego Music Hall of Fame honoree. “He was such a versatile artist and a brilliant person. … And Mike always did everything with such kindness.”

 

Bertha Pendleton, 92

An educator who spent more than four decades serving the San Diego Unified School District. She steadily climbed the ranks to become the first Black person and the first woman to lead what was then the eighth-largest school district in America. She died the week of Sept. 21.

Pendleton first went to work in San Diego teaching math at Memorial Junior High School in Logan Heights, and distinguished herself almost immediately.

She earned a master’s degree and later a doctorate. She became a school counselor, vice principal and principal, and eventually moved to the district office in Hillcrest.

In the 1970s, she was named director of compensatory education. Later, she was named an assistant superintendent and finally the top deputy to then-Superintendent Thomas Payzant. When Payzant left San Diego Unified in 1993, the school board chose Pendleton as superintendent.

Earlier this year, the district honored her by renaming a campus in Rolando Dr. Bertha O. Pendleton Elementary School.

Judge David Gill, Sept. 23, 90

A Superior Court judge who spent 50 years on the bench and was the county’s longest-serving judge ever.

Gill was widely viewed as a thoughtful and fair judge with a quick legal mind and dry wit. He was appointed to the municipal bench in 1974 by then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan and later moved to Superior Court. When Gill retired last year, he was not only San Diego’s longest-serving judge, he was at that time the longest-serving jurist among active trial judges throughout all of California.

Gill took on the tough cases. Superior Court Judge Michael Smyth, a past presiding judge, said Gill “always wanted to be the one to carry that burden” of taking on the most fraught cases. “It never waned for 50 years. It’s just incredible.”

Among them was the criminal trial of Dale Akiki, a former Spring Valley church day care volunteer wrongly accused in a case involving allegations of ritual child abuse. The 1993 trial lasted 217 days. It took the jury just seven hours to acquit Akiki.

Judge Joan Weber said Gill “was a wonderful human being and wonderful committed judge.”

“He was just a one of a kind,” she said. “There will never be another David Gill on our court.”

Charlie MacVean, Sept. 10, 88

A submarine commander revered by the Navy for daring spy missions he carried out against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

From 1975 to 1978 he was the commander of the USS Seawolf (SSN-575), the second nuclear-powered submarine in the American fleet.

MacVean, who lived in Point Loma for nearly 50 years, was lauded for his work, receiving the Distinguished Service Medal twice for meritorious service.

He rose up the ranks, eventually becoming executive officer of the USS Parche (SSN-683), which became famous in the Silent Service for tapping Soviet undersea communication cables and recovering Soviet missile fragments. His performance led to him being named commander of the Seawolf in 1975.

The following year, MacVean broke a Navy record, keeping Seawolf submerged for 89 straight days.

Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham, Aug. 27, 83

An ace fighter pilot, Vietnam War hero, member of Congress, federal prisoner.

Cunningham rose to the highest levels of public adoration as a decorated aviator and later as an elected representative. He was a seven-term congressman, but he succumbed to the trappings of elective office. He pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges in 2005 and spent eight and a half years in prison.

He joined the Navy in 1967 and began a flying career that landed him the Navy Cross and a pair of Silver Stars for extraordinary bravery.

In 1990, he challenged incumbent Democratic Rep. Jim Bates and won by a single percentage point.

In 2005, the Union-Tribune reported that a defense contractor had purchased Cunningham’s Del Mar Heights home for $1.7 million — hundreds of thousands of dollars above what comparative homes were selling for then. In five months, the U-T produced a series of reports on millions of dollars in bribes that Cunningham accepted to steer government contracts to people who paid him. In the end, Cunningham admitted taking $2.4 million in illegal bribes, and resigned from Congress.

“Duke should be remembered for what he did best in life, not just where he fell short,” said Rep. Darrell Issa, who served alongside Cunningham in the House. “He was a friend and a colleague, and his courage under fire in combat fighting for our country … must not be forgotten.”

Vern Jumper, July 4, 93

A Navy commander who helped more than 3,000 Americans and South Vietnamese refugees flee Saigon during the final hours of the Vietnam War.

As air boss of the USS Midway, he guided scores of evacuation helicopters onto the aircraft carrier’s deck during a chaotic 30-hour period in April 1975, as North Vietnamese forces were taking control of Saigon.

The effort was part of Operation Frequent Wind, the largest helicopter evacuation in history. More than 7,000 people were rescued by choppers, and many others were pulled from the South China Sea by warships.

He later helped create the Navy’s Top Gun fighter pilot school in Miramar.

Robert C. Dynes, June 30, 82

A blunt-spoken physicist who helped turn UC San Diego into a global research power as its chancellor and who later guided the UC through deep fiscal problems as the system’s president.

Dynes was a first-generation college graduate. He was named UCSD chancellor in 1996. He oversaw the creation of the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Rady School of Management and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, now known as the Qualcomm Institute.

He also helped found the Preuss School, a charter middle and high school on the UCSD campus that was among his favorite endeavors.

His achievements didn’t go unnoticed by the UC Board of Regents, which chose him as the system’s president in 2003. At the time, the state was facing a huge budget deficit that led lawmakers to slash the university system’s funding to help stabilize the state’s finances. Dynes, along with others, negotiated a compact with then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that stabilized and eventually increased funding for the UC and California State University systems.

Gay Hugo-Martinez, June 8, 82

A former federal prosecutor who served as a Del Mar City Council member at the same time she was trying a former Del Mar mayor in a high-profile Ponzi case.

Hugo-Martinez was an assistant U.S. attorney in San Diego from 1984 to 2000, served from 1988 to 1992 on the Del Mar council and in 1997 helped found the Sandpiper, a community journal in Del Mar. She served as board president of the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, later known as Orchestra Nova, and was involved in many other community groups and philanthropic endeavors.

For more than 40 years, she was deeply involved in the Del Mar community, where she settled in 1984 upon moving to California to join the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego.

By the time she joined the City Council in 1988, she had taken over the white-collar criminal prosecution of former Del Mar Mayor and City Councilmember Nancy Hoover, who federal prosecutors alleged had played a key role in an $80 million Ponzi scheme with her business associate and lover, J. David “Jerry” Dominelli.

The roughly nine-month trial ended with a federal jury convicting Hoover on four counts of tax evasion.

Bo Mazzetti, May 1, 77

Chairman of the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians Tribal Council for nearly two decades who had a decades-long track record of advocating for California’s Native Americans.

Early in his career, Mazzetti, a Vietnam War veteran, worked as the San Diego County Indian Affairs officer. During that time, he established the Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association and later, the statewide Tribal Chairmen’s Association.

He also served as president of the San Luis Rey Indian Water Authority, a coalition of five tribes, and won a 50-year-long lawsuit to regain tribal water rights.

In 2002, he was elected to the Rincon Tribal Council and eventually became vice chairman. In 2008, he was elected chairman and would stay in that role for 16 consecutive years.

Walt Ekard, April 25, 71

A chief administrative officer for the county for 13 years. He spent 35 years in public service and through each turn of his career, Ekard was described by friends and former colleagues as having a deep sense of integrity and a guiding set of principles in the decisions he made.

“He would center us on ‘What is the right thing to do?’ — so that we could put all of that noise on the side and let the politics play out for the politicians,” said Sarah Aghassi, the former interim CAO who worked with Ekard for 20 years.

As CAO from 1999 to 2012, Ekard managed the county’s day-to-day operations and its then roughly $5 billion budget, guiding the region through economic challenges and was known for his stewardship of the county’s finances, including pushing back against state-mandated but unfunded programs.

Following his tenure at the county, Ekard was brought on to serve as the city of San Diego’s chief operating officer after then-Mayor Bob Filner was accused of sexual harassment and resigned.

Bob Filner, April 20, 82

A 10-term Democratic congressional representative who was elected San Diego mayor in 2012 but resigned in disgrace amid a cascade of sexual harassment allegations.

By July 2013, barely half a year into Filner’s mayoral tenure, three prominent supporters publicly accused him of serial sexual harassment. More than a dozen other accusers would soon follow.

Filner, a Pennsylvania transplant who taught history at SDSU before jumping into politics with a seat on the school board and later the City Council, would be gone within weeks.

While a sophomore at Cornell University in 1961, Filner joined the Freedom Riders who sought to promote civil rights in the Deep South. He arrived by bus in Jackson, Miss., early that summer and was arrested for disturbing the peace. He refused to post bond and spent two months in the Mississippi State Penitentiary. The experience informed his political leanings for the rest of his life.

Although his time as mayor will be best remembered in infamy, he secured a five-year labor deal with city workers and funded two year-round homeless shelters during his short time in office. He also eliminated red-light cameras that remotely issued tickets to drivers, cleaned up the odor from bird droppings in La Jolla and he set aside money for a centennial event at Balboa Park.

Harry Mathis, March 31, 92

A two-time San Diego City Council member who after terming out continued service as a volunteer. He joined the Metropolitan Transit System board, serving three four-year terms and helping to transform the San Diego Trolley into what it is today

He accepted an appointment to the Local Agency Formation Commission, the obscure but vital board responsible for establishing the jurisdictional boundaries between the mashup of government agencies delivering services across San Diego County.

And even after concluding his most visible public service, he counseled and endorsed those who followed in his political footsteps.

Before becoming in involved in government affairs, Mathis spent 28 years as a Navy officer and commanded a nuclear submarine.

Eloise Battle, March 28, 95

An environmental activist who spearheaded efforts to save Tecolote Canyon from development in the 1970s and maintained a steadfast presence in its preservation for the rest of her life.

For more than 50 years, Battle remained tirelessly committed to the canyon she herself called home, living in a house in Clairemont that overlooked it. Her dedication to the open space was rooted in a respect for its Indigenous history and a deep love of its plants and animals.

Eloise Battle, at Battle Trail, the path named after her in Tecolote Canyon. (Courtesy of Adrian Battle)In the 1950s, the canyon was a proposed site for a landfill. In the 1960s builders proposed a 1,500-home development and a four-lane road through the canyon.

Battle became involved in saving the canyon in the early 1970s.

In 1978, she helped lead the way to Tecolote Canyon’s dedication as an open space park. She became the first chair of the Tecolote Canyon Citizens Advisory Committee, where she helped write the master plan for the park in the early 1980s.

Jim Roache, March 20, 79

A county sheriff who led the department from 1991 to 1995.

As sheriff, Roache is credited with securing funding for a regional crime lab, initiating the senior volunteer program and selecting the department’s first female assistant sheriff. He was also at the helm when the old green-and-white patrol cars changed to the familiar black and whites that remain.

He served 19 years with what was then called the Sheriff’s Department (now called the Sheriff’s Office), rising to the rank of captain before running to become sheriff. He earned his law degree at night — from what is now Thomas Jefferson School of Law — while working as a deputy.

He also served as a board member of the San Diego Unified School District from 1986 to 1990.

Roache lost his re-election bid to former San Diego Police Chief William Kolender.

After the loss, Roache remained active in community and civic affairs ranging from the Navy League to the San Diego County Homelessness Task Force. He was also a Sunday school teacher. In 1998, he and his wife founded the Technology Training Foundation of America, a nonprofit that provided refurbished computers to schools and other nonprofits.

Leon Williams, March 1, 102

A San Diego City Council member and county supervisor.

In 1969, Williams became the first Black person elected to the San Diego City Council. Thirteen years later, he became the first elected to the county Board of Supervisors.

During his time as a city leader, Williams played a significant role in transforming downtown and southeastern San Diego neighborhoods — particularly by helping to start the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation and the Centre City Development Corp.

He was president of the California State Association of Counties. He started the local Hate Crimes Registry. He founded the county’s first human relations commission; a revived one is named in his honor. In 2016, the San Diego Rotary Club named him “Mr. San Diego.”

He also helped advance the city’s public transit system, including bringing the trolley service to San Diego State University in 2005. Six years later, the SDSU Trolley Station was dedicated to him.

Friends described Williams as a person who deeply wanted to improve the world around him.

In 2022, while accepting the county’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the age of 100, he told the crowd that he sometimes struggled to sleep at night, thinking instead about “how we could create a better society, a more respectful and appreciative society.”

Thane McIntosh, March 1, 90

A news photographer who was a master at positioning himself in the right place at the important moments, snapping image after image and propelling them into the pages of The San Diego Union-Tribune and its predecessors.

He was outside the US Grant Hotel when John F. Kennedy campaigned in the waning days of the 1960 presidential election. He was inside the Sports Arena for The Fight, the heavyweight championship bout between Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton in 1973.

And there he was on the field at Jack Murphy Stadium in 1984, when the San Diego Padres rallied late to beat the Chicago Cubs and clinch their first National League pennant.

His son, Ian McIntosh, said his father always appreciated his role as a witness to history. “The importance of the event he was covering, he could sense it. When he took the pictures of JFK, he felt honored to be there.”

Joseph Wambaugh, Feb. 28, 88

A former police officer who became an acclaimed bestselling author, introducing audiences to the gritty, stark realities faced by fellow street cops.

Wambaugh was a longtime San Diego resident.

His characters shed the clean-cut image common of police procedurals and instead mirrored real, flawed people facing the aftershocks of making complex calls.

He started writing novels while still working as a Los Angeles police officer, rising over 14 years from patrol to detective sergeant while also earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English.

Of his 21 books, 16 were fiction, the rest non-fiction. In 2019, he told the Union-Tribune he tended to view the fictional novels with more affection because he “birthed” them. The nonfiction works, he said, were more like “foster children.”

Asked in that interview how he would like to be remembered, his answer came quick: “Cop writer.”

Anne Evans, Feb. 12, 92

One of San Diego’s top business and nonprofit leaders.

Evans raised five children and volunteered for various causes for 30 years while her husband, William D. Evans,  built the landmark Bahia and Catamaran hotels in the 1950s and ’60s on Mission Bay.

But when he died of a heart attack in 1984, she took the helm of the Evans Hotels group.

In 1995, it bought the Torrey Pines Inn next to the Torrey Pines Golf Course and in 2002 replaced it with the 170-room Craftsman-style Lodge at Torrey Pines.

She wasn’t known solely for her success as a late-blooming entrepreneur. Her civic contributions were many, having served on or chaired the boards of the Economic Development Corp., San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau (now the San Diego Tourism Authority), the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, the state chamber and tourism boards, and the Automobile Club of Southern California

She also chaired the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Los Angeles Branch in the 1990s and was inducted into four halls of fame.

Ethan Ramos, Jan. 23, 17

A young actor well known for his talents and joy in the local theater community. He died in his sleep unexpectedly.

He began performing in musical theater when he was 7.

He grew up in Vista, made his debut performance in Frozen, Jr. with Vista’s Broadway Theatre in 2016. He went on to perform at Moonlight Youth Theatre, Moonlight Stage Productions, Oceanside Theatre Company, Lighthouse Players and Rancho Buena Vista High School, where he was a junior.

“When Ethan walked into our department,” said Mackenzie Scott, RBV’s drama director, “he came with a mission — to learn everything there was to know about theater. But what he didn’t realize then was that his passion, his work ethic and his dedication would soon become the very heartbeat of RBV Drama.”

He had started performing professionally over the past couple years and recently won a Thespy Award for Solo Musical Theatre Performance at the International Thespian Festival.

Lorraine Boyce, Jan. 15, 97

A passionate advocate for women’s rights and health who was the first woman mayor of Escondido.

She began her career as a nurse in the obstetrics ward of Los Angeles County General Hospital. Her life’s work centered on caring for people in need, especially low-income women and children.

She co-founded the Escondido Community Child Development Center in the mid-1970s so mothers could have child care while they went to work to support their families. One of the nonprofit’s buildings on Ninth Avenue in town was named in her honor. A full-length portrait of her is on a mural outside the center. She continued to visit children at the center until her last days.

In the late 1960s, while Boyce was involved with the League of Women Voters, the community was concerned about the shortage of low-income housing, which led Boyce to run for City Council to help solve the problem. She served on the Escondido City Council for eight years from 1970-1978 and was mayor from 1974-1976.

Michael Hynson, Jan. 10, 82

He was a handsome, brash and stylish surfer who co-starred in the definitive surf movie “The Endless Summer.”  His sunset silhouette appeared on the famous movie poster.

He was not long out of Mission Bay High he was recruited for the movie by filmmaker Bruce Brown.

Hynson had worked with Brown on some shorter films. When Brown conceived the feature-length documentary, he needed a pair of accomplished surfers for an around-the-world venture in search of the perfect wave. He signed up Hynson and Robert August for a monthslong tour of beaches in Australia, Tahiti, Ghana and other remote venues.

“The Endless Summer” was released in 1966 and became an instant smash, showcasing Hynson’s talent and personality.