Former OC Supervisor Tom Wilson, who opposed the El Toro commercial airport, has passed away

Former Orange County Supervisor Thomas W. “Tom” Wilson has passed away, on July 17, 2024, according to local sources.

Wilson was appointed by Governor Pete Wilson to the Orange County Board of Supervisors in December of 1996, representing the Fifth District. He was appointed instead of Patricia C. Bates. This upset some critics who wanted Wilson to appoint a woman to replace the former supervisor, Marian Bergeson. Wilson was said to have favored Wilson because of his business background and knowledge of financial issues.

Upon his appointment, Wilson immediately vowed to fight the conversion of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport.

On March 5, 2002, the passage of Measure W in effect killed the proposed commercial airport at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Base, according to the O.C. Register.

Both Bergeson and her predecessor, Thomas F. Riley, lived in Newport Beach, where many residents supported the El Toro airport conversion. Wilson became the first county supervisor since 1971 to represent the 5th District who did not live in Newport Beach. Activists in south Orange County were very pleased that Wilson was chosen to represent the 5th District.

Wilson took office as Orange County was slowly recovering from its 1994 bankruptcy, which forced cuts in services and personnel and severely strained county government’s credibility with the public, according to the L.A. Times.

Wilson’s Fifth Supervisorial District included Dana Point, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills,Laguna Niguel, Newport Beach, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Tustin, Aliso Viejo, Coto de Caza, Leisure World – Laguna Hills, and Rancho Santa Margarita.

Wilson previously had served as a member of the Laguna Niguel Community Council from 1987 to 1989. In 1988 and 1989, he served as President of the Community Council and participated as a member of the Citizens for Cityhood Committee. In November of 1989, he was elected to the Laguna Niguel City Council on which he served until his appointment as Fifth District Supervisor. While on the City Council, Wilson was Mayor Pro Tem in 1991, and was elected Mayor in 1992,serving two consecutive one year terms.

Wilson retired from Rockwell International in 1995, after over thirty years of service in various management and administrative positions around the United States. He worked there as an aerospace engineer. He previously had served in the United States Air Force.

Wilson held leadership posts on several countywide government agencies including the Orange County Transportation Authority and Orange County Fire Authority.

Wilson actively participated in numerous boards, commissions, and committees. He was a member of the Monarch Beach Sunrise Rotary Club and the Orange County Points of Light Leadership Council. In 1991, he became a member of the South Coast Medical Center Winners Circle, serving as a Director of that organization since 1993 and as a Director of the Hospital Board of Directors since 1994. He also was a member of the South Coast Medical Center Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees, and held the position of the Board’s Vice-President for two years.

Wilson was a native of Oil City, Pennsylvania. He graduated cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh, earning a Bachelor of Science Degree. He also earned an MBA from the California State University, Long Beach and was a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma National Honor Business Fraternity.

Wilson ran Wilson & Advisors, a Government Relations company, after he retired from public service.

Wilson, a widower since 1988, remarried on August 30, 1997, to the former Nancy Miller. He had one son, Tom, twenty-two years of age, who served in the United States Navy.