Bob_Epple
Bob Epple
American attorney and politician
Robert "Bob" Epple (November 18, 1948 in Los Angeles, California - April 13, 2011 in Norwalk, California) was an American attorney and politician from California and a member of the Democratic Party.[1][2]
Epple first ran for elective office in 1980, when he challenged entrenched GOP state senator Bill Campbell in what was then a safe Republican district.[3]
He then served as an elected member of the Cerritos College Board of Trustees from 1981 until 1988, when he ran for the California State Assembly.[4]
Epple challenged incumbent assemblyman Wayne Grisham (R-La Mirada) in the 1988 election.[5] Democrats considered Grisham vulnerable after he lost a special state senate election the year before against then Norwalk councilman Cecil Green within roughly the same geographic area.[6] With help from Sacramento Democrats and Speaker Willie Brown, Epple narrowly defeated Grisham. [7]
Reelected easily in 1990, Epple had a much tougher time in 1992, when he opted to run in the newly drawn 56th Assembly District, based around Cerritos, Bellflower, Downey and part of Long Beach. Although he represented a portion of the new district before reapportionment, he had to move there to seek reelection, mainly to open up a his old Norwalk-based 63rd district (which had been redrawn as a majority-Latino district) for a Latino candidate.[8] He faced conservative businessman Phil Hawkins, in what became one of the most expensive California legislative races that year. Epple managed to only barely beat Hawkins by 542 votes.[9] When they faced off in a rematch two years later, Hawkins beat Epple by more than 10 points in a strong year for Republicans nationally.[10]
In 2004 Epple's wife Cheryl, then an elected member of the Cerritos College Board of Trustees, died suddenly of a heart attack. [11] He replaced her on the board and was reelected in 2005 and 2010.
On April 13, 2011 Epple died after a long battle with leukemia.[12]