John O. Lund

John O. Lund, a Rohnert Park stockbroker who ran for Congress in the 1970s on a platform of creating commuter rail service on the North Coast, has died. He was 82.

Lund sought to replace Rep. Don Clausen in 1976. He lost the Democratic primary to Norma Bork, who was defeated in the general election.

Lund wanted to get cars off the freeway, said his wife of 48 years, Barbara Lund. He proposed investing in a passenger rail system as a way to do that, she said.

"I guess he was too far ahead of his time," his wife said.

Lund was born in Berkeley in 1930 and raised in Sonoma. He was a tennis and chess champion at Sonoma Valley High School as well as a member of the debate team.

After graduating in 1948, he served in the U.S. Merchant Marine, sailing to South America, before returning to get a degree at San Francisco State and joining the Marine Corps as an officer, his wife said.

He was married twice and had three children before meeting his third wife while going door-to-door as a Fuller brush salesman.

They had two more children. Lund helped raise her daughter from a previous marriage. They settled in Rohnert Park in 1969.

Lund became a stockbroker, working for several North Bay firms before retiring in 1994.

In his spare time, he was a soccer coach, sponsored a softball team, bowled, golfed and played tennis. He was a member of numerous service organizations and was a president of the Exchange Club. He was a Gideon and helped distribute Bibles to area hotels.

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