Dan Fontes, Beloved Bay Area Artist, Dies Following Health Battle

ALAMEDA, CA — Dan Fontes, a beloved Bay Area artist and longtime Pacific Pinball Museum board member, has died from cancer.

Fontes's partner, Julie Lucchesi, previously told Patch that the celebrated artist was already struggling with diabetes and congestive heart failure when his health started to rapidly deteriorate early in the year.

A CT scan revealed Fontes had an abscess in the lower left lobe of his lung. He was hospitalized for 11 days. During this time, Lucchesi started a GoFundMe to bring awareness to Fontes' health issues.

Community members and close friends of Fontes and Lucchesi rallied around them, raising nearly $25,000.

Fontes appeared to be getting "a little better each day," Luchessi told Patch in mid-March.

The Pacific Pinball Museum announced Fontes's death on Wednesday.

"This hit hard," one person commented on this post. Another described Dan"kind and gentle soul."

Museum officials say Fontes supported shows in the Marin Civic Center and in Alameda during the "Shoot the Moon" Expo in 2016. Many of his pinball murals can be found in the Alameda Museum, as well as the Musee Mecanique and Free Gold Watch in San Francisco.

"Dan was also responsible for the massive wall art on both sides of our History Room that greets our patrons upon museum entry every day," museum officials said. "Our deepest condolences go out to Dan's longtime partner Julie."

Dan's work can be found here.