Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand, who has spent the last 15 years or so as an elected official, during which he fought against overdevelopment in his beloved beachside city and advocated for the environment, has died.
Mayor Bill Brand, 65, died at home on Friday “with his loving wife, family, and friends by his side,” the city said in a release Saturday.
Bill Brand cause of death
Bill Brand died from lung cancer, city officials announced.
Brand battled stage four lung cancer for four-and-a-half years and survived his specific cancer longer than any other diagnosed in the United States, according to the city.
“I have had the honor and privilege of working closely with him for over fifteen years. He inspired so much positive change through his passion for Redondo Beach,” Joe Hoffman, chief of police for the City of Redondo Beach, said in a social media post Saturday morning.
“His commitment and determination serve as a model for others,” he added.
Brand’s cancer presented as a mass on his brain that caused him to have a seizure on a flight to Mexico nearly five years ago. Since that day, Brand has been through chemotherapy, radiation and a couple different clinical trials
“It’s been a hell of a journey,” Brand said at the time. “There have been some drugs that have worked, some that haven’t.”
But, through all the treatments, he said, “I’m standing here today thanks to efforts like this.”
And he stood longer than most.
Brand, according to the city, survived his specific cancer longer than anyone else in the U.S. with the same diagnosis. And that, according to a city statement, was “a testament to his will to live, his will to move forward, and his will to lead the community he loved so much.”