Jack Filanc Dies at 86; Builder, Donor, Scoutmaster Who Served Encinitas

Jack Filanc—a local construction industry leader who touched many lives in Encinitas as a public servant, Scout leader and philanthropist—has died, according to a U-T San Diego obituary.

He was 86.

Filanc, the great-grandson of a French immigrant in the early 1800s, settled in Whittier, where he and wife Jane raised their five children “until Jack discovered Encinitas in the early 1960s,” said an obituary published Sunday.

“They ended up building a … house just a short block from Moonlight Beach and spent a couple of summers in this California paradise before finally moving permanently to Encinitas in 1965,” the notice said.

For more than a dozen years, Filanc made available a truck to help post the 1,400 lights on the Moonlight Beach Christmas Tree at 4th and C streets.

“Jack Filanc has consistently donated a cherry picker to reach the highest points of the tree while stringing the lights,” said the Downtown Encinitas Merchants Association in a 2010 blog post.

Filanc served several terms on the Encinitas Sanitary District board as well as the Encina Joint Advisory board.

“He even ran for City Council during Encinitas’ first attempt at cityhood,” the obituary noted.

Filanc, a USC graduate who in 1952 helped found the business that would become J.R. Filanc Construction Co., was a former president of Associated General Contractors of San Diego and a national director for AGC of America.

He also won the local group’s SIR Award—for “skill, integrity, responsibility.”

“Jack was quite active in the Boy Scouts of America with his sons and served as scoutmaster of Encinitas Troop 777 for seven years,” the U-T reported.

Besides being an Eagle Scout himself, all three of Filanc’s sons achieved the highest rank in Scouting as well as one of his grandsons.

An avid fisherman, he landed a 275-pound blue marlin in May off the Kona coast in Hawaii, the obituary said.

“Jack also loved hunting, which provided him another opportunity to be in the outdoors. Jack and his sons hunted big game all over the Western U.S. and he recently traveled to New Zealand for a hunting adventure. Jack’s most recent hunting trip was in November in Montana where he harvested his last deer.” The U-T obituary said.

The obituary didn’t specific the date of death but said he spent a full day at his office the day before his death.

When his daughter Julie passed away, the Filancs made a $3 million donation to San Diego State University, where Julie attended college, establishing the J.R. Filanc School of Construction Engineering and Management.

“Jack also provided a significant gift to the Boy Scouts in San Diego to help ensure the Scouting program thrives for the next 100 years,” the obituary said.

A memorial service is set for 3 p.m. Jan. 4, 2013, at Solana Beach Presbyterian Church, 120 Stevens Ave., Solana Beach, Ca.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be made to the Campanile Foundation of San Diego State University and directed to the Jack R. Filanc Scholarship Fund.