I'm trying to find the birth year for William Honig, the former state
superintendent of schools in California. As far as I can tell, he was
in a lot of legal hot water over some of the things he did while in
office in the late 80's and early 90's. I also need verification that
he is still alive.

Hello.

Bill Honig was born in 1937.

"Honig, Bill, b. April 23, 1937, San Francisco, Calif. Ex officio
Regent as Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1983-93. Committees:
Educational Policy, 1990-1993. Education: B.A., 1958, UC Berkeley;
M.A. Education, 1972, San Francisco State University; J.D. 1963, Boalt
Hall School of Law. Career: Superintendent of schools in Marin County,
1975-82; State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1982-93."
source:
Regents of the University of California / Biographies
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/uchistory/general_history/overview/regents/biographies_h.html

The U.C. Regents biography page include death dates where appropriate,
and there's no death date for Bill Honig. Additionally, I'm in the Bay
Area, and Mr Honig is very prominent in the area. If he had died, it
would have been covered in the San Francisco Chronicle. I checked the
S.F. Chronicle archive [
http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/obituaries/#form ]. His wife passed
away in 1999, but Mr Honig is alive.
---------
search strategy:
"bill honig" berkeley "marin county" superintendent
"honig bill" berkeley "marin county" superintendent

I hope this helps.

Excellent work. This is exactly what I needed.