Los Gatos’ Alice Hoagland Dies At 71: Report

LOS GATOS, CA — A Los Gatos woman who was pivotal in the growth of International Gay Rugby a vocal advocate for victims of the 2001 terror attacks after losing her son aboard a plane on 9/11, has died, The Associated Press reports.

Alice Hoagland died Dec. 22 after suffering from Addison’s disease according to the report. She died in her sleep at her Los Gatos home according to a longtime family friend, the report said.

Hoagland, described in the report as the “godmother” of gay rugby, helped popularize the sport that her son, Mark Bingham, helped launch before his death on 9/11 at 31.

Bingham, a standout on UC Berkeley’s championship rugby team, played a key role in the 2000 launch of the gay San Francisco Fog team.

The 6-foot-5 220-pounder was among several passengers who stormed the cockpit of Flight 93 and crashed the plane in a patch of rural Pennsylvania, preventing it from hitting the U.S. Capitol, which was believed to be its intended target.

Hoagland became an airline safety advocate and pushed for allowing relatives of 9/11 victims to pursue lawsuits against Saudi Arabia for its role it played in the attacks.

“We’re less interested in any kind of financial gain than we are in bringing the truly guilty into court and making our case known,” she told The Associated Press in a 2016 interview.

Read more in The Associated Press