It's out!
Man, that was by far the most stubborn one I have ever had though. I did finally have to use a vise grip on it, but just to break it loose so it is still fairly decent. I also rapped on it several times with a piece of pipe and a hammer, so maybe the impact of that helped loosen the bond also.
I did apply a small amount of anti-seize to the threads when I put it back together, and was carefull not to tighten any more than necessary. Chalk this one up as a lesson learned for me... I'll be changing the filter every 15k religiously from now on. That fuel coming out of the old one was black as charcoal!