Local News

E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Oakland Tribune Writer Dies After Muni Accident

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

Recipient E-mail:*
- Your Name:*
- Your E-mail:*
Add a Message:
Send me a copy of this e-mail.

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

Print Share + Comments

Feb 20, 2009 12:11 pm US/Pacific

Oakland Tribune Writer Dies After Muni Accident

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: A San Francisco Municipal Railway train.

Close

numSlides of totalImages

A longtime Oakland Tribune reporter who was hit by a train in San Francisco earlier this month died Friday morning at San Francisco General Hospital, according to the medical examiner's office.

William Brand, 70, had retired from full-time work late last year but still wrote a beer column for the newspaper. He was struck by a San Francisco Municipal Railway N-Judah train at Second and King streets at about 9:10 p.m. on Feb. 8.

San Francisco police Sgt. Wilfred Williams said Brand was walking south on Second Street when he was hit. He said the intersection is controlled by stoplights.

Williams said the cause of the accident is under investigation, but he added that his department's policy is normally not to comment on the cause of Muni accidents or disclose who was at fault.

"We are deeply saddened by the tragic outcome of this accident," said Nathaniel Ford Sr., executive director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates Muni, in a prepared statement. "On behalf of the SFMTA, I offer our sincerest condolences to his family and friends."

According to colleagues at the Tribune, Brand was returning from a food and beer-pairing event at the 21st Amendment Brewery on Second Street when he was struck by the train.

Brand worked full-time for the Tribune for 27 years. Before that, he worked at the Contra Costa Times and the Alameda Times-Star.

Tribune reporter Cecily Burt said Tuesday that she worked with Brand for four years in the newspaper's Berkeley bureau.

Burt described Brand as "not only a longtime colleague of mine but a good friend."

"Bill was very generous with his knowledge and contacts and always great to work with," Burt said, describing him as "a devoted husband and father."