Victor Conte, a pioneering San Mateo nutritionist who was at the center of one of the biggest sports drug scandals in history involving Barry Bonds, Marion Jones and many other star athletes, and who later became a leading anti-doping advocate in the world of boxing, died early Monday morning, his daughters announced. He was 75.

Conte remained active in boxing, working with some of the sport’s top athletes even as he battled pancreatic cancer for the past year.

He had spent much of the past two decades seeking redemption for his role in the BALCO episode that led to a 42-count indictment from an Internal Revenue Service investigation.

“There are always going to be people who say I’m the devil, who hate me and think I’m the guy who destroyed the national pastime,” Conte told the Bay Area

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