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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Retired Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy James Leone, a St. George, Utah, resident, was one of two men who died Sunday while running in the Los Angeles Marathon.
Leone, 60, was remembered by friends as a generous man who volunteered as a clown to cheer up terminally ill children in California and flew those in financial need to St. George for medical treatments at his own expense.
"He really did a have a heart of gold," Don Carey, Utah wing leader of Angel Flight West, which flies indigent patients to medical treatment, said Monday.
Leone, who collapsed about one mile into his 11th marathon, and Los Angeles police Detective Raul Reyna, 53, who had completed about 24 miles of the race, both died Sunday.
In 1974, Leone joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Seven years later, he moved to a station in City of Industry. He held various assignments there, including patrol and dispatch, and eventually managed the buildings and fleet.
"He was a very good policeman," said Los Angeles County sheriff's Detective Ljot Inglis, who worked with Leone from 1987 to 2000.
Leone retired in July 2000.
Leone was described as a martial arts expert, an avid deep sea fisherman, a master auto mechanic with a license to work on aircraft and a Shriner.
A couple of times a month, he dressed like a clown and went to a children's hospital in California to make terminally ill kids laugh and make them balloon animals, Inglis said.
"The (tough) front he put up was nothing like he was inside," Inglis said.
After retiring, Leone moved to southwestern Utah.
In 2001, he joined Angel Flight West. Carey said Leone was an active pilot who flew a total of 18 missions. The retired sheriff's deputy was also a mission orientation pilot, training new pilots in the St. George area.
"He was always there and so willing to help in any way he could," said Kara Carey, Utah mission coordinator for Angel Flight West. "Underneath that rough exterior lies the biggest, softest heart you could ever imagine."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
