Dave Wheeler, subject of Steve Lopez column who sent in his own obituary, dies at 53

Dave Wheeler, the former Costa Mesa city councilman who was the subject of a recent Steve Lopez column in The Times, died Friday of lung and brain cancer at his home in Moreno Valley. He was 53.

Lopez’s column, which appeared Nov. 30, recounted how Wheeler had sent him his own obituary, written from the perspective of a man who has reached his 54th birthday, and that led to a correspondence by phone and e-mail over several weeks before the columnist visited Wheeler at his home.

In one of his correspondences, Wheeler offered his positive outlook by noting: “I am getting married next Friday and the following week, I plan to have brain surgery at Hoag.”

In the column, Lopez remarked that “he couldn’t help admire his spirit, and it’s not as if a lot of people send me their own obituaries.”

Wheeler was born April 19, 1955, in Champaign, Ill. He graduated from UC Irvine in 1978 and from USC’s law school in 1981. As a young lawyer, he practiced criminal defense law and worked as an appellate defense lawyer for the California 4th District Court of Appeal. He also practiced family law and plaintiff personal injury law and defended doctors before the state Medical Board.

He was 29 when he was elected to the Costa Mesa City Council in 1984. He served four years and is still the youngest councilman in that city’s history. In the late 1980s, he became interested in wild animals and the wilderness and lived for a time in the Big Bear Lake area. He later turned to racing Formula cars. He was diagnosed with lung cancer last December.

He is survived by his wife, Terri, herself a cancer survivor; mother Myrna Smith; sisters Teresa Terwilliger and Karla Swanberg; three daughters; and five grandchildren.

Services are being planned for next month.

jon.thurber@latimes.com