Francisco Sanchez, 91, father of Frank Sanchez, died about six hours after the accident.
By KATHRYN WEXLER
Published July 30, 2003
TAMPA - The parents of former Tampa mayoral candidate Frank Sanchez were involved in a car wreck Tuesday that killed his 91-year-old father.
Francisco Sanchez and his wife, Delia, were taken to St. Joseph's Hospital after the accident. Francisco Sanchez struggled for his life, said his son, reached late Tuesday at the hospital.
"He fought real hard for about six hours," Frank Sanchez said.
Mrs. Sanchez underwent surgery on her hip and was faring all right, he said.
Tampa police were dispatched to an accident at Columbus Drive and Lincoln Avenue at 11:16 a.m. Sanchez's friend, Julie Harris, who was with him at the hospital Tuesday, said the couple was eastbound on Columbus Drive and turning left onto northbound Lincoln Avenue when an oncoming car hit the vehicle's passenger side.
Mrs. Sanchez was driving, Harris said.
Sanchez, an only child, bought a home next door to his parents in Riverside Heights when he returned to Tampa in 2001 from Cambridge, Mass., and made a run for mayor. He currently runs a negotiating and consulting firm.
His mother was a key figure in Sanchez's campaign. She is a former administrator of Head Start and a board member of the Ybor City Museum of Art. She was named the 1993 Hispanic Woman of the Year.
On Tuesday night, a trail of supporters came to St. Joseph's Hospital to keep Sanchez company.
"He's surrounded by friends and family," Harris said.
