La Jolla resident dies after multiple-vehicle crash on Camino Del Mar

The 76-year-old man who died in a wrong-way crash Monday, Oct. 28, in Del Mar was identified as a La Jolla resident, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The crash occurred about 4 p.m. Monday when Paul Palmer drove his Honda CRV north on Camino Del Mar and, for unknown reasons, swerved into the southbound lanes, Sheriff Sgt. Brian Derouin said in a statement.

The Honda sideswiped a Toyota RAV4, then slammed head-on into a Toyota van.

Palmer died at the scene, after paramedics initiated “advanced cardiac life support,” according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.

The two men in the Toyota van, a 28-year-old driver and his 27-year-old passenger, suffered major injuries and were taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. The 39-year-old woman in the RAV4 was not hurt.

Sheriff’s traffic deputies said alcohol and drugs were not suspected to be factors in the collision.

Palmer was the former CEO of Big Brother Big Sister of San Diego County, the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network. He led the nonprofit for 12 years and, during his tenure, increased the amount of children mentored from 230 to 1,700, according to a 2014 column in the Union-Tribune.

Before holding the CEO position at Big Brother Big Sister between 2002 and 2014, he was a general manager of KFMB radio.

— Luke Garrett is a reporter for The San Diego Union-Tribune