Merl Craft

Merl Craft died on the evening of Monday 26 October 2026, aged 72. The City of Pittsburg announced her death on 28 October in a bilingual statement. The city did not give a cause of death in its announcement.

Flags at City Hall and other city facilities were lowered to half-staff, and the city said the 2 November 2026 council meeting would be adjourned in her memory. Mayor Dionne Adams said Craft had shown up for the city's people and opened doors for them, and Recreation Supervisor Joy Walker said the standards she set would continue to guide the department's work. Tri Delta Transit said eastern Contra Costa County had lost a hometown hero. Information about memorial services was to be shared later.

Marilyn Craft, known throughout her life as Merl, was a lifelong resident of Pittsburg, California, in eastern Contra Costa County. Her exact date of birth has not been published; she was 72 when she died in October 2026. Few details of her childhood have been made public.

Craft spent much of her working life as Recreation Supervisor for the City of Pittsburg, building programs for young people, families and seniors and forging partnerships among city government, community groups and faith-based organizations. Colleagues later described her as someone who did not wait for opportunity to come to Pittsburg but went out and found it, and created it when it did not exist.

She founded Open Opportunities, a nonprofit offering mentoring and career training to young adults through the Future Build Pre-Apprentice Training Program, which placed more than 90 percent of its graduates in jobs. She worked in particular to open the building trades to women.

In November 2014 she was elected to the Pittsburg City Council, taking one of three open seats with about 12 percent of the vote and finishing two points ahead of former mayor Bob Lewis. She was re-elected in 2018 with 23.6 percent, placing first of four candidates. Under Pittsburg's rotating mayoralty she served as mayor in 2021, when she backed the Faria/Southwest Hills housing project, saying the city needed to raise income levels to attract grocery stores and retail. She also served on the board of Tri Delta Transit.

As a councilmember and mayor she supported My Brother's Keeper Pittsburg, the Pittsburg Dream Courts, the Pittsburg Senior Center and the reopening of the Pittsburg Marina Community Center.

Craft was survived by her husband, children, grandchildren and extended family, to whom the City of Pittsburg extended its condolences. She remained an active volunteer in Pittsburg throughout her life.

Craft's legacy in Pittsburg lies in the programs and places she helped build for young people, families and seniors, and in the job training pathways she opened, particularly for women entering the building trades. Local leaders remembered her as a mentor and advocate whose nearly five decades of service touched many lives in Pittsburg and beyond.