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Pleasanton developer, wife, killed in small plane crash in Utah
Peter and Mona Branagh in single engine craft that struck mountainside

by Jeb Bing

Peter Branagh, an East Bay developer with extensive interests in Pleasanton's downtown and residential communities, was killed in a plane crash Sunday along with his wife Mona in southern Utah.

The couple, who lived in Lafayette, was traveling in a single engine Cirrus SR22 from a stop in Utah to Aspen, Colo., when the plane crashed into a mountainside north of I-70 about 27 miles southeast of Salina, Utah. Sevier County (Utah) Sheriff Nathan Curtis, who went to the site Tuesday, told the Salt Lake Tribune that based on some of the electronic devices that he found, the couple was flying at 14,000 feet before the plane plummeted down into the mountain.

Branagh was president of Branagh Development, a well-known development firm in the East Bay, as well as a director of the California Bank of Commerce. Both he and his wife, who owned and operated Pacific Bay Interior in Danville, were members of the bank's founding group.

Partnering with Craig Semmelmeyer, president of Main Street Property Services Inc. in Lafayette, Branagh was involved in the development of the building at Angela and Main streets in Pleasanton that is home to Tully's Coffee Shop and the more recent renovation of the 234 Main St. building, where Fleet Feet sports specialty store is located and eventually a restaurant will be added. Branagh's company also built homes in Ruby Hill.

Memorial services will be held at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Community Presbyterian Church, 222 W. El Pintado Road in Danville.