William Filante; 14-Year Assemblyman

William J. Filante, a 14-year member of the state Assembly who ran for the congressional seat being vacated by incoming U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, died early Tuesday of brain cancer. He was 63.

Filante, a moderate Republican who represented Marin and southern Sonoma counties in the Assembly and who often broke with his own party during his 14 years in Sacramento, was found to have cancer four months ago. He died at home in Terra Linda in Marin County.

Filante ran for the congressional seat being vacated by Boxer, but he was forced to suspend campaigning after promising an all-out race despite his failing health.

He was considered the favorite for Boxer’s seat until the brain tumor was discovered Aug. 7 during emergency surgery.

Last month he lost to his Democratic opponent, Petaluma City Councilwoman Lynn Woolsey.

State Assemblyman John Vasconcellos (D-San Jose) praised his late colleague.

“Bill was a sweet man with a good mind and an eccentric in the best sense of the word,” he said.

“He was a Republican who was willing to part with his own party on profound issues, like choice and gay rights and the environment and really be a crossover, nonpartisan guy, which was certainly appropriate for Marin County, his district,” Vasconcellos said.

“He offered a direct intellectual challenge during debates on the Assembly floor,” Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) said in a statement.

Filante also was one of two Assembly Republicans to buck the National Rifle Assn. and vote for a virtual ban on semiautomatic assault weapons after shootings at a Stockton school in 1989.

Filante was first elected to the state Assembly in 1978. His last term expired Nov. 30 and he was succeeded by Vivien Bronshvag, a Democrat.

In the Assembly, he was vice chairman of the Rules Committee and a member of the Health, Utilities and Commerce, Water, Parks and Wildlife and Ways and Means committees.

He considered the creation of the state AIDS vaccine research and development program in 1986 one of his greatest accomplishments.

Before joining the Legislature, Filante served on the Marin Municipal Water District Board of Directors and the Marin Community College Board of Trustees. A doctor specializing in ophthalmology, Filante also was a clinical professor at UC San Francisco.

Survivors include his wife of 44 years, Margaret, and their children, David, Steven and Janet.