Missing Livermore schools assistant superintendent dies in Nevada

LIVERMORE - The Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District is in shock over the death of Assistant Superintendent Mike Biondi. His body was found Wednesday in Nevada, about a week after he had been reported missing.

"It's just a devastating loss for anyone who knew him. If you were a colleague of Mike's you were a friend of Mike's," said friend Terry Koehne.

Koehne met Biondi when both worked with the San Ramon Valley School District. Biondi was an elementary school principal, and Koehne was district spokesman.

"Always a calming influence. I mean, he had this demeanor about him that had just sort of a quiet confidence about him. He never raised his voice," Koehne said.

Biondi was found dead in his SUV parked at Walker Lake, Nev. Mineral County Undersheriff Bill Ferguson told KTVU there were no signs of foul play. Results of an autopsy are pending.

"It's just like, why?" said parent Stacy Thorpe. "Why such a good man who just wanted to change people's lives?"

She said Biondi was an educator at heart and never forgot his roots as a spanish teacher.

"If I brought anything to him, any concerns I saw, I would come to him and he would look into it and always get back to me," Thorpe said.

Biondi leaves behind his wife and three children.