Contra Costa board of supervisors candidate dies in plane crash with three others

Erik Nunn, a 37-year-old candidate for the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, died over the weekend with three others when the private plane they were flying in crashed into a Nevada hillside.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Nunn and his party departed North Las Vegas Airport Saturday around 2:45 p.m. en route to the Bay Area but crashed into a local hillside after striking power lines. Nunn, an experienced aviator, was believed to be the pilot of the Piper Cherokee at the time of the crash.

Nunn, his wife of 10 years, Tanya, and two friends, Michele and Craig Wilson, all died on impact, officials said.

In June, Nunn came in second in a hotly contested five-candidate race for the 5th District seat on the board of supervisors. Since he and two-term incumbent Federal Glover both finished with less than 50 percent of the vote, the two men were gearing up for a run-off election this November. How that run-off will be handled was not immediately clear Monday

In 2004, Glover beat Nunn by a 10 percent margin. A year later, Nunn was appointed chair of the Oakley Planning Commission in Contra Costa County. The two couples leave a total of seven children behind.

City officials said a memorial fund to help assist both families was expected to be established sometime Monday with the Bank of the West in Oakley.