Thomas T. Boyce, an independent insurance agent and a Vietnam War veteran, died of a heart attack Thursday at Union Memorial Hospital, according to his brother, James S. Boyce of Quantico, Va.

Mr. Boyce, who lived at the DeSoto Apartments in Charles Village, was 69.

At the time of his death, Mr. Boyce was running in the primary election as the unopposed Republican City Council candidate for District 14.

The son of William G. Boyce Jr., a lawyer, and Katherine Dorcas Kauffman, a homemaker, Thomas Tennant Boyce was born in Baltimore and raised on Suffolk Road in Guilford.

Growing up, he spent time at his grandmother Elise Gillet Boyce's Bacon Hall Farm in Glencoe, where she bred thoroughbred horses.

He was a 1964 graduate of Boys' Latin School and studied for several years at the Johns Hopkins University.

Mr. Boyce joined the Army in 1969, and served in Vietnam as a reconnaissance and scout observer with the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division.

His decorations included the Combat Infantry Badge, Defense Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Discharged in 1971, Mr. Boyce worked as a special assistant to Democratic Rep. Clarence D. Long, who represented Maryland's 2nd District from 1962 to 1984.

Mr. Boyce then went to work as an agent for Hay Brothers Insurance in Perry Hall and later became a salesman for Carroll Independent Fuel, where he worked from the late 1990s until the early 2000s. In recent years, he worked as an independent insurance agent.

Mr. Boyce enjoyed thoroughbred racing and was a regular at Pimlico Race Course, family members said.

He was a member of the Bachelors Cotillon and volunteered for years at the Roman Catholic Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where he was a communicant and lector.

Mr. Boyce was also a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, where he enjoyed counseling other members and providing rides to meetings.

Plans for a Mass to be held at his church are incomplete.

In addition to his brother, he is survived by several nieces and nephews; and a special friend, Ann H. Allison of Charles Village.

— Frederick N. Rasmussen