May 16, 1955 - May 10, 2018
Philip Mark Cortland died May 10, 2018, in San Francisco, just six days before his 63rd birthday, after a long fight with Stage 4 lung cancer.
A San Francisco native, Mr. Cortland was born May 16, 1955. He was the husband of Arlo Hale Smith, former BART director and San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee member.
Mr. Cortland mostly grew up in Oregon. He served in the U.S. Army, starting in 1973, and was in the Signal Corps. After the Army, he moved back to San Francisco, where he mostly worked for a paper distributor. He retired due to disability in 2012.
Mr. Cortland met Smith in 2011 at the Lone Star. He lived with Smith from 2013 until his death.
The couple were married by Supervisor Jeff Sheehy on January 3, 2018.
Mr. Cortland was a lifelong Democrat who argued online with supporters of President Donald Trump.
Smith will miss him dearly. Another casualty of the tobacco industry. (As was Smith's mother, Helen.)