Cancer Takes Life of Register Columnist David McQuay, 40

David McQuay, a columnist with the Orange County Register, died in his sleep Thursday morning after a lengthy battle with colon cancer. He was 40. McQuay, whose illness was a frequent subject of his thrice-weekly columns, continued to write until just before his death.

“Once David revealed his condition, thousands of readers sent cards and visited him in the hospital,” Register Editor Tonnie L. Katz said. “The outpouring of love from the people he wrote for was amazing even to him, and it helped him to go on. We’re going to miss him terribly.”

Before writing for the Register, McQuay worked as a writer and columnist at the Denver Post and Baltimore News American.

He is survived by his wife, Johnada Elliott-McQuay of Orange; his mother, Mary Marian McQuay; a brother, Paul McQuay; a sister, Linda Hollingshead, and an uncle, Paul (Bud) Miller, all of Baltimore, Md.

A public vigil is scheduled for 8:30 tonight at La Purisima Catholic Church, 11712 N. Hewes Ave. in Orange. A funeral Mass will be celebrated in the church at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the Stephanie Anne Christie Colon Cancer Research Fund at the Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Center of the University of Southern California, 1420 San Pablo St., PMB-C100, Los Angeles, Calif. 90033.