[December 01, 2009] San Ramon City Attorney Byron Athan dies Tweet SAN RAMON, Dec 01, 2009 (Contra Costa Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Byron Athan, who was an integral part of San Ramon's incorporation and held the post of city attorney until his health recently forced him to retire, has died. Athan died on Wednesday, his family said, of natural causes. He was 91. Athan moved to San Ramon in 1964. He gave legal advice to those hoping to make it a city during the incorporation effort. He was the city's attorney from 1983 to 1995 and worked as the interim city manager for five months during that time. Mayor H. Abram Wilson said Athan wrote the city's charter, the shortest charter in the state. In the late 1990s, he served on the city council and was mayor in 1998 to 1999. He was once more hired as city attorney in 2004. "By is one in a million," Wilson said. "When you look around in San Ramon, everything that made San Ramon's quality of life (what it ) is was because By had his finger on it and guided us through it." At 91, Athan was the oldest city attorney in the Bay Area. His first career was in the military. During World War II, he was a paratrooper in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. He spent 20 years in the Army before he retired as a lieutenant colonel. He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1947. He is survived by his wife, Mary, his three sons and their wives, seven grandchildren and one great grandchild. A memorial service will take place in January, but a date has not yet been set. Wilson said even when Athan handed in his resignation letter as city attorney, that he left the option open that he might again serve the city in some other capacity. "He will always be that angel looking down on San Ramon," Wilson said. Reach Sophia Kazmi at 925-847-2122. Follow her at Twitter.com/sophiakazmi. To see more of the Contra Costa Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.contracostatimes.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]