Vernon "Val" A. Lerch

Val Lerch, the former District 9 councilman and iconic North Long Beach resident who was honored at the city’s Veterans Day festival earlier this month, has died. He was 69. Lerch, who served 12 years with the U.S. Coast Guard and another 12 in the active reserves, died on Sunday evening, Nov. 21, at his home, according to his daughter, Vicki Lerch. The former councilman had spent the last few years fighting cancer, but in October, he learned the cancer had spread again and was terminal. Lerch went into hospice care. Earlier Sunday, Lerch’s family gathered at his North Long Beach home to celebrate Thanksgiving with the patriarch. Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia on Monday called Lerch “an amazing Long Beach hero who served his city and country honorably and was always looking out for working people.” Vernon A. Lerch was born on Feb. 23, 1952, in Fort Ord. (Lerch didn’t like his given name, his daughter said, so he eventually combined his initials to form “Val.”) He and his family moved to several places in Northern California, finally settling in San Leandro, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lerch joined the Coast Guard in 1969, when he was 17 years old, and served on active duty for 12 years, including time in Long Beach, and another 12 years on active reserve duty. After his active duty, he received his GED degree from Long Beach’s Wilson High School and moved to the northern part of the city with his wife, Janet, who he married in 1971, and their two children, Vicki and Tony. His wife died from multiple sclerosis in March 2019. After leaving the Coast Guard, Lerch worked as a paralegal for two law firms and worked in property management for 25 years with different companies. Lerch decided to live permanently in Long Beach after he was stationed here with the Coast Guard, his daughter said. “He fell in love with Long Beach immediately,” Vicki Lerch said. “He loved the beauty, the water, everything about the city. He said he could spend his life here.” Memorial Services are pending at St. Pancratius Church in Lakewood