ENCINITAS - The founder of an Encinitas-based parenting organization and the organizer of an annual surfing contest died Sunday morning in a motorcycle crash on Highway 78, authorities said Monday.

David Carvan Bruer, 55, opened the Father's Resource Center on Second Street in 1998. He had operated a similar organization in Illinois for six years before moving to Encinitas, where he lived and worked.

Witnesses told the California Highway Patrol that Bruer had been driving his 2005 Harley Davidson motorcycle at about 90 mph when he attempted to switch lanes near Emerald Drive and struck the side of a 2003 Dodge pickup truck, officer Tom Kerns said.

Bruer then lost control and was thrown onto the pavement; he was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. The driver of the Dodge, a 37-year-old Poway man, was not hurt, Kerns said.

Bruer is survived by an adult son, John-David Bruer, an investigator for the county medical examiner's office said.

His career as an advocate for fathers began nearly 20 years ago and stemmed from personal experience.

Bruer told the North County Times in June that he learned first-hand the difficulties of raising a child as an unwed, single father.

"I studied and educated myself, but I felt it all along that I wanted to be a dad and it was innate for me," Bruer told reporter Ruth Marvin Webster. "No one can ever tell me that a woman could do it better than me. I wanted to be a dad and I knew I could do it."

Under Bruer, the center has aided fathers, mothers, grandparents - and indirectly, their children - with advice about parenting and how to peacefully negotiate issues of child custody, support and visitation.

As director of the Encinitas center, Bruer drew upon experience as an educator, counselor, mediator and parent.

Born in the Midwest, Bruer graduated from the University of New Mexico, then attended law school at Pepperdine University in Anaheim. He taught junior and senior high school in Colorado, and in 1980 headed for the Virgin Islands, where he operated a small water sports business.

John-David was born six years later, and when his son was 3, they returned to the Midwest. Bruer again worked in the classroom, counseling and teaching teen mothers and teen fathers. He also ran a program for at-risk youth.

After winning a prize in 1995 for his master's thesis on families and conflict resolution, Bruer and his son moved to California. He founded the Encinitas resource center in November.

"He wanted to provide a cost-effective, non-adversarial service for parents going through divorce, primarily for the benefit of the children, who frequently are the victims of divorce," said Suzanne Cowan Dimeff, an attorney and member of the resouce center's board of directors.

In California, family law discourages parents from representing themselves, she said. Bruer was not an attorney but helped parents complete paperwork in support of their cases.

"He was most proud of at all times being an advocate for children," she said.

Children were the stars of a Father's Day surfing contest, the Menehune Surf Classic, which Bruer has organized at Moonlight Beach since 1999.

In 2005, then-Mayor Dan Dalager delivered an official proclamation to the contest.

"When it came down to it, the (surfing) event itself was an event for kids," Dalager said Monday.

Dalager said Bruer was quick to volunteer at other community events.

Another board member for the Father's Resource Center, David DaCosta, said he, too, remembers the energy and enthusiasm Bruer would bring to his work.

"He was a fighter," DaCosta said. "He just did it his way. He was a really good individual."

- Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 901-4074 or akaye@nctimes.com.