By Miriam Raftery

Photo via Russ T Nailz on Facebook

March 10, 2022 (San Diego) – He often said he’d been making people laugh since June 1957, when he was born. Yesterday, the laughter stopped when Russ Stolnack, Jr., aka Russ T Nailz, died at age 64. The long-time East County resident was a multiple Emmy award-winning entertainer best known as a comedian, radio host, musician and celebrity auctioneer for charities.

On his Facebook page, he celebrated “making a living doing what I love.”

He also died doing what he loved, while filming "On The Air."  His  long-time TV and radio cohost, Robert “Sully” Sullivan, said Stolnack “was signing a song with the house band when he had a heart attack, and – just like that – he was gone.”

By Donald H. Harrison, San Diego Jewish World, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

February 13, 2022 (San Diego) - Morris Casuto, the Anti-Defamation League regional director who defended San Diego County’s Jewish community against antisemites while forging good relations with other ethnic and religious groups within the county, died from leukemia Friday night, February 11, at the UCSD Jacobs Medical Center.  Graveside funeral services for Casuto, 79, will be conducted at 2 p.m., Tuesday, at El Camino Memorial Park.

By Miriam Raftery and  Rebecca Jefferis Williamson

Photo via El Cajon Citizens of the Year

February 1, 2022 (El Cajon) – Pastor Harold Brown overcame homelessness and other hardships to become a community leader dedicated to helping others. As founder and CEO of the East County Transitional Living Center (ECTLC) in El Cajon, he championed programs that have helped thousands of people escape homelessness and find hope instead of despair. Brown was also senior pastor of Christian Fellowship  of El Cajon.

Following a long battle with lung cancer, he was hospitalized last week with pneumonia and passed away yesterday morning.

Community leaders voiced sorrow as well as praise for Rev. Brown’s remarkable achievements.

By Karen Pearlman

January 8, 2022 (Alpine) -- Jeff Marcus, an Alpine resident, was one of thousands who died from COVID-19 related issues in 2021.

An entertainer for more than four decades, Marcus's career as a magician, clown and hypnotist was stalled starting in the spring of 2020 when he was unable to perform in front crowds during the pandemic.

By Karen Pearlman

December 31, 2021 (La Mesa) -- Ron Brady was the founder of a high profile construction company, but it was the practice of philanthropy over the course of many decades that helped him develop some of his closest community ties.

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Brady took over his father's business, the lath and plastering contracting firm E.F. Brady that started in 1946, and turned it into a successful construction business known as the Brady Companies. The Brady companies were instrumental in developing much of San Diego County, Los Angeles County and parts of Northern California. The companies specialize in drywall, plaster and lath that are geared toward major commercial projects.

Over the course of his lifetime, he and his wife, Mary Alice, gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars to different organizations, from Sharp Grossmont Hospital to the East County YMCA to the Boys and Girls Clubs of East County.

By Miriam Raftery

December 31, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) – Lost but never forgotten, these are the prominent East County individuals who passed away in 2021, as well as two who died amid the pandemic in 2020 but were not memorialized until this year, when media was notified.

They came from all walks of life: journalists, educators, teachers, a priest, a tribal healer, a firefighter, a police officer, athletes, a musician, business leaders, students, philanthropists, an air ambulance crew, a veteran who survived the Pearl Harbor attack, and many more. Each left their own indelible mark on our region.

Click the name/title to view the full obituary for each of these local luminaries.

East County News Service

October 29, 2021 (Santee) – A celebration of life for Steve Krueger, the UPS driver killed by a plane that crashed in Santee on October 11, will be held at Santee Town Center Community Park on Sunday, November 7.  The service will be held from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. fields 1 and 2.  The Santee Town Center Community Park is located at 550 Park Center Community Park, Santee.

“We are heartbroken by the loss of our driver Steve Krueger, and extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends," the company's statement read. "Those who knew Steve said he took pride in his work, and his positive attitude and joyful laugh made the hardest days a little lighter."

Krueger had worked for UPS for 30 years and was just months away from retirement. He had recently purchased a retirement home in Mammoth, NBC 7 reported.

East County News Service

October 18, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) -- Billie Faye Owens, 63, a journalist in San Diego from the mid-1980s until 1996, died at Rochester General Hospital in New York on Oct. 15 from complications from congestive heart failure.

She was taken to United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia, NY, with health issues on July 26 and remained hospitalized for 81 days. At no time did she test positive for COVID-19.

She was born in 1958 in Charlotte, N.C., to Barbara Jean Carter and Billie Eugene McSwain. Her mother moved her when she was 5 to San Diego where she would eventually attend San Diego State University, earning a B.A. in Journalism.

She went to work for the Daily Californian in El Cajon, Calif. in 1989, where she met her second husband, Howard Owens, then a wire and copy editor at the Daily Californian, and currently publisher of The Batavian in Batavia, NY. They were married on the campus of Point Loma Nazarene College in 1993.

East County News Service

October 5, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) – Rex A. Cole Sr., a PGA golf professional and instructor at several local golf courses, passed away on August 25. 

Source:  Poway Chamber of Commerce

September 2, 2021 (Poway) - The Poway Chamber today announced the passing of long-time Chamber member and former Chamber President, Vernard “Vern” Marston. Vern, a 49-year resident of Poway, died with his family at his side on August 24, 2021. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather, community banker, retired USAF Lt. Colonel, and dedicated member of the Poway Chamber of Commerce. Vern was often referred to as "Mr. Poway".

TEEN DRIVER HAD HISTORY OF STREET RACING

Update September, 12, 2021:  Passenger Jiovanni Solorio Roman, who was in a coma after the crash, has died, 10 News reports.

Update August 23, 2021:  The student killed in a high-speed crash has been identified by his father as Gady Cruz, NBC 7 reports.  One of the passengers, Jiovanni Solorio Roman, is in a coma, according to his mother. Identities of the other two injured passengers have not been disclosed. According to the Medical Examiner, Cruz was 16 years old and was not wearing a seatbelt when the vehicle crashed and overturned. CBS 8 reports that Cruz  previously posted videos on social media of himself racing at speeds over 100 miles per hour on local freeways.

By Miriam Raftery

August 21, 2021 (El Cajon) – A black 2018 Honda Civic crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of Fletcher Parkway and Navajo Road in Fletcher Hills around 2:11 a.m. The driver, a senior at Grossmont High School, died and three passengers were seriously injured, including two 11th grade Grossmont students.

In a press release, the Grossmont Union High School District stated, “Our district is working closely with the El Cajon Police Department as their investigation of the incident continues. Due to privacy,our district is unable to release further information regarding the students’ names or health conditions. We will release more information as we are able to do so. As our school community begins to deal with this tragedy, our district will be providing additional grief support on campus at GrossmontHigh School and will also make it available to students throughout our close-knit GUHSD community.”

By Ken and Chris Stone, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit speaks at the funeral for Dan Walters, a police officer and former San Diego Padres catcher. Image from Facebook

August 11, 2021 (San Diego) - It was important to Dan Walters not to be forgotten.

By Ken Stone, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Pearl Harbor survivor Stu Hedley joked in 2019 that he was turning 89 the next month before telling people to transpose the number to 98. Photo by Chris Stone

August 5, 2021 (San Diego) - Stu Hedley credited a lesson his dad taught him for saving his life at Pearl Harbor in 1941.