County GOP Leader Delahanty Dies at 75 : Obituary: Cancer causes the death of the 1972-74 Republican chairman and Fullerton booster.

George E. Delahanty, a former chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, whose participation in the party spanned decades, died Wednesday at his home here after a lengthy bout with cancer. He was 75.

“George was a very, very nice man,” said Lois Lundberg, a friend and colleague of Delahanty who worked with him when he was local GOP chief in 1972-74. “He didn’t have too long a leadership in the party because it was during stormy times . . . but he always remained a very loyal Republican.”

Lundberg, who is herself a former county GOP chairwoman, praised Delahanty for contributing hundreds of volunteer hours to the party, along with his wife, Dorothy.

“He was a very dedicated family man and Republican,” she said. “We were in Miami in 1972 for the Nixon convention. He deeply respected the party as an important part of his life. . . . We are really saddened by the loss.”

Born Feb. 3, 1916, in San Francisco, Delahanty served three years in the Army (1943-46) and moved to Orange County shortly after the end of World War II, quickly establishing himself as an effective leader with a kind heart, friends and family said.

In 1951 he founded Transcontinental Credit Service Inc. in Fullerton.

Dorothy Delahanty described her husband as a caring companion who embraced both work and family fervently.

He was ambitious and successful, she said, in spite of having only a high school diploma.

“He was a very, very active man,” she said. “He was president of everything in Fullerton. Whatever he got interested in, he had to be at the top.”

Delahanty was president of the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce in 1956-57; director of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce in 1958-60; a member of the county’s GOP Central Committee; an appointee of Gov. Ronald Reagan to the California Collection Agency Advisory Board, and president of the Orange County Marine Institute in 1975-77.

Delahanty is survived by a son, Richard George Delahanty; a daughter, Kathleen Dorothy Henry; two sisters; eight grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.

A Rosary and vigil service will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday in the chapel of McAulay & Wallace Funeral Directors in Fullerton.

Funeral services will be conducted at 9:30 a.m. Monday at St. Mary’s Church in Fullerton. Burial will follow at Loma Vista Memorial Park in Fullerton.