From nimble-footed young man to smooth-stepping retiree, Tony Najera promoted a healthy pace in life.

In his young days, he was a waltzing wonder, a competitive ballroom dancer and an instructor for Arthur Murray Dance Studies. As a retiree, he was a globe-traveling host, leading dance steps on cruise ships and tourist excursions to exotic ports of call.

In between, Mr. Najera, who died Dec. 7 at 73, was a leading advocate for healthy living as a lobbyist and executive for the American Lung Association of California. He helped pass California's Proposition 99, the 1988 Tobacco Health Protection Act that taxed cigarettes to fund health services and education programs to curb tobacco use.

Mr. Najera, who worked for the Lung Association for 37 years before retiring as vice president of government relations in 2000, was spokesman for the Coalition for a Healthy California during the successful Proposition 99 campaign.

John Miller, a former chief of staff for state Sen. Diane Watson, D-Los Angeles, who worked with Mr. Najera on tobacco issues, said he played a key role in helping conceive and win voter support for the initiative – "handing the tobacco industry its first-ever political defeat."

Miller said Mr. Najera, the graceful dancer, also moved deftly through the Capitol to promote legislation backed by the lung association.

"Tony had fierce determination, keen intelligence and intuitive political judgment. But it was his remarkably generous spirit ... and genuine personal appeal, which won him friends," Miller said. "Tony charmed them all."

Born Anthony Philip Najera on Feb. 5, 1937, Mr. Najera grew up in Fresno County. Raised by his grandparents after losing his mother at 8 months old, he worked with his sisters and grandparents in fig orchards and grape vineyards.

"I think that had an impact on him," said son Anthony Vincent Najera of Sacramento. "He was an extremely compassionate person. He treated every person, whether they shined shoes or owned the company that made them, with respect."

Mr. Najera went on to serve in the U.S. Army in the Adjutant General's Office in the Panama Canal Zone. He returned to work as program director for the Tuberculosis and Health Association of Fresno County and later as executive field director for the Mid Valley Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Association.

Mr. Najera, who graduated from Fresno State University and earned a master's degree in health science at the University of San Diego, never lost his passion for dance.

He married his dance competition partner, Rosalie Angie Hernandez, and they raised three children. The couple later divorced.

"He could dance with anybody and he would look graceful on the floor," said Mr. Najera's daughter, Julie Torres of Sacramento, who recalls her father enlivening many a party or family gathering with his moves. "The foxtrot, merengue, cumbia … he knew it all."

After retiring from the American Lung Association, Mr. Najera applied for a job as a "gentleman host," a dance leader and excursion director for Crystal Cruises, one of two cruise lines he worked for.

In a letter of recommendation, American Lung Association colleague Karen Fulton Holine wrote: "He is well groomed, polished, engaging, intriguing and a natural renaissance man."

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