Obituary: John Briscoe was a tenacious longtime Ocean View School District trustee

John Briscoe, a longtime member of the Ocean View School District Board of Trustees known as a dogged public rights advocate, has died.

Briscoe died May 16 at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center after complications from open heart surgery, his wife Debbie said. The Huntington Beach resident was 72 years old.

Briscoe served on the OVSD board for 16 years beginning in 2006 and valued his role as a public official. He was involved until the end, running for the board again last fall and for the vacant state Senate District 36 seat earlier this year.

He was a Republican but worked well across the aisle, said fellow longtime board member Gina Clayton-Tarvin, a Democrat who said she considered Briscoe one of her best friends and talked to him every day.

“He would get endorsed by different groups, not partisan groups,” Clayton-Tarvin said. “Some would lean left, some leaned right. It was like he was kind of an enigma, really, because he did so much good work for children.”

John Briscoe, right, was an Ocean View School District trustee for 16 years.

(Courtesy of Gina Clayton-Tarvin)

Briscoe sued the city multiple times over the years on various issues and always won, Clayton-Tarvin said. Some of his most high-profile work on the OVSD board involved setting the largest lawsuit in the district’s history, against Rainbow Environmental Services (now Republic Services) over concerns about a disposal site’s impact on students at nearby Oak View Elementary.

Briscoe was also instrumental in helping to pass Measure R, a $169-million bond measure passed by voters in 2016 that led to the modernization of several elementary and middle schools in the district.

Former Ocean View School District Supt. Carol Hansen, who worked with Briscoe for seven years, said he was focused on rebuilding the credibility and stability of the district after asbestos was discovered in three district elementary schools in 2014.

“He had a laser-like focus on academic achievement for students, and doing what was right,” Hansen said. “He stuck to what he believed in. He didn’t veer off his own beliefs and values, which I admired him for that. He wouldn’t be easily persuaded by others, he would do his research and stay focused on what his values were and what direction he wanted for the district.”

Born in Altadena, Briscoe earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and speech communication from Cal State Long Beach. Briscoe also held a pair of master’s degrees, in business administration from Claremont Graduate University and in public administration from Long Beach State, where he would lecture on marketing. He also recently earned his doctorate from National University.

Fourth-grade student council members greet John Briscoe, then president of the Ocean View School District Board of Trustees, as he tours the refurbished 2.5-acre farm at the Golden View Environmental Science School in Huntington Beach in 2019.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

He and Debbie also ran a real estate property management company.

Briscoe’s involvement in the community also included earning an Eagle Scout title and becoming an assistant Scoutmaster. He coached youth soccer and baseball and was a member of Rotary International as well. He had a love of travel, according to his wife.

“He just had a passion for helping people,” Debbie Briscoe said. “We took our grandson to Disneyland, and [John] would talk to everybody in line, everybody at the restaurant. [He said], ‘What do you mean you’re not going to school? How can you get ahead if you’re not going to school?’ He does the same thing at the grocery store. He’s always trying to get people involved in the community.”

Briscoe attended the same Huntington Beach church as OVSD Board President Patricia Singer, she said in a social media post tribute to him.

Candidates John Briscoe and Gina Clayton-Tarvin, from left, clap for an audience member during last year’s Huntington Beach Union District school board candidates forum.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“He served as a greeter, welcoming others with that same warmth he carried everywhere,” Singer said. “His faith was not just a part of him, it guided every aspect of his life. I will deeply miss our long, impassioned conversations about public education. He always had an idea — often unconventional, always insightful — about how to do better, how to reach farther, how to care more.”

In addition to his wife, Briscoe is survived by his sister Cindy, brother Bill, son Tyler, daughter-in-law Penny and 2-year-old grandson Jeremy.

Debbie Briscoe said a celebration of life service is planned for July 15 at 11 a.m. at Old World in Huntington Beach. The service will take place three days after what would have been the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary.