Stephanie Bell, a Pleasanton native, professional engineer and daughter of Mayor Karla Brown, died on March 27 after a nearly five-year battle with breast cancer, the city has confirmed. She was 30.
A Foothill High School alumnae who also attended Vintage Hills Elementary and Pleasanton Middle schools growing up, Bell followed her passion for mathematics to California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, where she earned a degree in mechanical engineering. Bell would go on to work as a project engineer for high-pressure gas lines with PG&E in San Ramon.
“It’s always difficult to lose our loved ones, but absolutely devastating when a child precedes us,” Pleasanton Interim City Manager Brian Dolan said in a statement March 31. “Stephanie was relentless in her fight to treat and recover from breast cancer, as was her mother in her unwavering care for her daughter.”
“The City Council and the entire organization offers our deepest condolences to Mayor Brown and her family,” Dolan added.
The city noted that the family encourages people interested in celebrating Bell’s memory to consider donating to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation or the Sandra J. Wing Healing Therapies Foundation in her honor to help support the fight to find a cure for breast cancer.
Bell’s death was first announced publicly during the State of the City presentation on March 29. Mayor Brown, who had been scheduled to deliver the annual address in-person, pre-recorded the speech in light of her daughter’s health.
