With Father’s Day Fete Ahead, a Dad Is Killed

Gary V. Cloward was expected at a Father’s Day celebration Sunday. But instead of toasting their patriarch, family members gathered to grieve after he was killed on his bicycle in a collision with a truck near Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach.

The accident, still under investigation, occurred about 7 a.m.

Emigdio Cervantes, 24, of Los Angeles was traveling east on Warner Avenue from Pacific Coast Highway when police say his truck hit Cloward.

Huntington Beach paramedics were unable to revive Cloward, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police did not provide more details of the accident but family members said they believe Cloward was in the bike lane when he was hit and was not wearing a helmet. Police say there was no indication that the truck driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They had not filed charges against him.

Family members said Sunday that Cloward had been looking forward to joining them in the afternoon for a Father’s Day lunch.

When he woke Sunday morning, Cloward, 53, decided to take a bike ride in his effort to keep fit. He was killed less than two miles from his home.

Hours later, he would have sat down at Mario’s Mexican Restaurant in his neighborhood, flanked by his daughter, brother, son and 3-year-old granddaughter.

Daughter Tami, 30, remembered how proud her father had been of her job as a waitress in the premium seating area at Staples Center. He asked her about the games played there and she decided she would work tonight because he would have wanted her to work during the NBA playoff game.

His son, Gary Jr., 32, couldn’t believe he would never see his father again.

The son said he had been working on a construction job until 4:30 a.m. Sunday and had planned to call his father at 6 a.m. But after 14 consecutive days working, he woke up at 9:30 a.m. to hear the bad news.

“I feel a gut-wrenching emptiness,” Gary Jr. said. “Our relationship was getting stronger, I would say in the last couple of years, because of my daughter, his granddaughter.”

Relatives said the elder Cloward was a deep-sea fishing enthusiast. He worked at Boeing in Huntington Beach and had a business selling fishing products.