San Diego Declares It 'Duane Roth Day'

The City Council declared it to be Duane Roth Day in San Diego on Tuesday in honor of the civic leader and executive who died Aug. 3 from injuries suffered in a bicycle accident.

Roth, 63, was "an entrepreneur and collaborator who changed the way we lived and the way we worked," Interim Mayor Todd Gloria said.

Roth founded Alliance Pharmaceutical in 1988 and was CEO of San Diego Connect, which brought together leaders from the region's high tech and biotech industries.

"Duane's work with Connect and Alliance Pharmaceuticals helped mold the landscape of our life sciences industry here in San Diego, obviously a big part of our economy," Gloria said.

Councilman Mark Kersey said Roth was "a visionary, he was a leader and a friend."

His colleague, Kevin Faulconer, called him "a great San Diegan in every sense of the word."

Roth was on the board of the state agency responsible for stem cell research and had been set to become chairman of the Sanford-Burnham Research Institute's board of directors. He also was a member of the executive board of Lead San Diego, a leadership training organization.

Earlier in his career, he was a senior executive at Johnson & Johnson and Wyeth.

Roth crashed his bicycle July 21 into a rock outcropping near Lake Cuyamaca, with an impact so severe it broke his helmet, authorities said.

—City News Service