Captain III Vance M. Proctor, commanding officer of the West Los Angeles Community Police Station, passed away on April 27 in Woodland Hills. He was 60. He had undergone an emergency appendectomy on April 10. Born in Dodge City, Kansas, in 1944, Proctor earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Cal State Northridge and a master’s degree in public administration at USC. He was appointed to the LAPD in 1967 and promoted to captain in 1986, serving in a variety of positions, including patrol, detectives, vice, traffic and transit operations. Proctor developed a number of innovative programs, including one to improve detectives’ interrogation methods and another that enlists citizen volunteers for criminal surveillance in the San Fernando Valley. He became area commanding officer for the West L.A. station last February. During his last year of service, Proctor was committed to maintaining two patrol cars in Pacific Palisades community and to reducing speeding. On April 29, the Los Angeles City Council adjourned in Proctor’s honor. Proctor is survived by his wife, Nina; daughter, Lisa Osborn; son, Todd; his mother, Helen; and two grandchildren. A graveside service was held May 7 at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, followed by a memorial service at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley.

Richard W. Griffiths, otherwise known as Dick, died April 25 in Santa Barbara. He was 88. ”Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Dick graduated from the University of Washington in 1938. In early 1943, he accepted a position as staff member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where until the end of World War II he worked developing, installing, and testing microwave radar for the military. After the war, Dick became an independent consultant in the electronic and engineering fields. In the early 1980s, his interest in fiber optics resulted in the award of 11 patents in the U.S. and abroad. This led to his founding of G2 Systems Corp. In 1995 Dick survived pancreatic cancer. He firmly believed his cure was the result of prayers to Father Junipero Serra and devoted his remaining years to helping promote Father Serra’s path to sainthood. All of his medical records were turned over to the ‘Cause’ at the Santa Barbara Mission. Dick was an avid sailor all his life. Wherever his travels took him he managed to find a boat to sail. He built and raced Star boats on both coasts and was a life member of the Seattle Yacht Club. Dick and his family were residents of Pacific Palisades for over 40 years and were active members of Corpus Christi Parish. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Claire; son John of Beaverton, Oregon; daughters Sharon Troll and Robin Rodnick of Santa Barbara; and five grandchildren. A memorial mass will be held on Saturday, May 14, 11 a.m. at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Montecito. Interment will be at Calvary Cemetery in Seattle.

Donald C. McDaniel passed away on Saturday, May 7 after a short but courageous battle with cancer. He was 73. Born on April 2, 1932, McDaniel was a lifelong resident of Pacific Palisades after being born and raised in Beverly Hills. He graduated from Stanford University in 1954 and earned his law degree from UCLA in 1961. He practiced law in Santa Monica and Los Angeles for 45 years. After serving as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, McDaniel was active in civic groups, including the Young Republicans and the Santa Monica Rotary Club, where he was a Paul Harris Fellow. He is survived by his wife, Helen McDaniel; his son Scott of Idaho; daughter Margy of West Los Angeles; and five grandchildren. Words cannot describe the family’s sadness or how much they loved and will miss Don. They request that in his honor you forgive everyone for everything and that you take the first opportunity to embrace your loved ones and reaffirm the love you feel for them. Services were private.

Jane Bishop Fahey, a 34-year resident of Pacific Palisades, passed away peacefully at home in the arms of her family on May 5. She was 80. Born in Boston, Massachusettts, on September 21, 1924, Jane lived with her parents, Mary VanCourtland Richards and James Thoburn Bishop in Cleveland, Ohio, before moving to New Canaan, Connecticut, in 1934. She graduated from Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia, as president of her class and Columbia University with an R.N. degree. She became a supervisory nurse at Presbyterian Hospital, where she met John Leslie Fahey, M.D. They married in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, in 1954. They lived in Washington, D.C., and London before settling in Chevy Chase, Maryland, to raise their three children. In 1971, Jane and John moved their family to a beautiful home in the Palisades, where they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last year. In 1972, Jane helped to organize the library’s Fourth of July parade float. She joined the Palisades Woman’s Club and enjoyed the friendship of many neighbors and resource persons in the village shops, banks and markets. In 1970, Jane suffered the onset of multiple sclerosis that progressively limited her activities. Yet she traveled with John to England, Ireland, Alaska, Canada, Mexico and Japan, cruised the Panama Canal, and spent three weeks on safari with family in East Africa. She participated in many celebrations with family and old friends. She was game to try it all. Jane loved gourmet cooking, big red wines, the L.A. Opera and the Philharmonic, and the Brooklyn Dodgers. She was a talented artist, a passionate naturalist, an avid gardener, a Girl Scout troop leader and a teacher of ecology to inner-city youth. In addition to her husband, Jane is survived by her children, Marguerite of West L.A., James (wife Kaoru) of Tarrytown, New York, and Catharine of Boulder, Colorado, as well as grandchildren Allison, Cassidy and Audrey. She was a radiant person with a wonderful laugh and an insightful sense of humor. Her patience, kindness and nurturing presence will be greatly missed. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 21 at 3:30 p.m. at Corpus Christi Church, corner of Sunset and Carey. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, 2440 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 115, Los Angeles, CA 90064.

Martha Newman Ragland, a resident of Pacific Palisades for nearly 60 years, passed away May 9 from cardio-pulmonary failure. She was 84. Born on the Mississippi Delta in Clarksdale, on December 5, 1920, Martha was a graduate of the University of Tennessee where she was selected from a college annual picture to sign a contract with New York modeling agent John Robert Powers. She spent a year-and-a-half modeling in New York City before coming to Hollywood as an actress under contract to 20th Century Fox where she became a Goldwyn Girl, appearing in small roles in Danny Kaye films. In November 1947, she married film composer Alfred Newman, who headed the music department at 20th Century Fox. They purchased property in Rustic Canyon to build a home designed by architect Lloyd Wright. It was here they raised their five children. Martha and her family continued to live in Pacific Palisades after her husband’s death in 1970. All her children still reside in the Los Angeles area. She dedicated many volunteer hours to groups in her community, including Fashionettes, DAR, Westside L.A. Philharmonic Society, Community Bible Study and her local churches. A founding member of St. Matthew’s Parish, she also attended Calvary Church and, most recently, Palisades Presbyterian Church. Martha devoted her life to family and friends, who deeply loved her and will miss her. ”She is survived by her second husband, Robert Ragland; children Lucy (husband John), Fred (wife Norma), David (wife Krys), Thomas (wife Ann Marie) and Maria (husband Scott); 16 grandchildren, including Christopher, Jennifer, Elizabeth, Jaclyn, Steven, Matthew, Stephanie, Brianne, Diana, Evan, Julia, Jack, Martha, Isabella, Samuel and Noah; and three great-grandchildren: Aaron, Anna and Madelyn. A service will be held at the Presbyterian Church, corner of Sunset and El Medio, at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 14. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to Community Bible Study at 200 Fairbrook Dr. # 102, Herndon, VA 20170.

By HANS LAETZ Special to the Palisadian-Post A former Pepperdine University mathematics professor, who at the age of 82 was still teaching college-level calculus classes at Malibu High School, died April 29. Dr. Louis Leithold was found dead in his Pacific Palisades home by a Malibu parent whose children were concerned after Leithold failed to arrive at the high school that morning. ‘This is the guy who literally wrote the textbook on calculus,’ one saddened Malibu teacher said. Leithold’s ‘The Calculus with Analytic Geometry,’ first published in 1968, is in its eighth edition and has been translated into many languages. ‘He was a rock star among mathematicians,’ said colleague Robert Barefoot of Scottsdale, Arizona, who recalled audiences of 2,000 screaming Leithold fans, many wanting their textbooks autographed, at calculus lectures in universities in Central America. ‘He was the first person to receive royalties from a textbook,’ Barefoot said, ‘and the first person to ever put artwork onto the cover of a college textbook.’ Barefoot and Leithold together taught summer clinics for high school calculus teachers for several years at Fordham University in New York, and at Pepperdine. ‘A lot of kids just really enjoyed his type of teaching,’ said Pepperdine mathematics professor Carol Adjemian. Leithold, who began his career in 1955 at Phoenix College in Arizona, wrote his seminal textbook while teaching at Cal State Los Angeles. He taught at Pepperdine for 17 years before retiring in 2000. In 1998, at age 76, Leithold began teaching calculus at Malibu High. ‘He made listening to a lecture about calculus interesting and engaging,’ said MHS senior Danielle Horn. ‘Calculus was the love of his life,’ said senior Anne Carol Cruz. ‘Everything he taught, he taught with great enthusiasm. The school lost a great man; he was so passionate.’ Fellow MHS math teacher Brian Corrigan said Leithold got his students ‘convinced that their calculus class was the most important class. That wouldn’t happen if there wasn’t passion.’ ‘He was revered on campus,’ said Malibu High principal Mark Kelly, who noted that an extremely high percentage of Leithold’s advanced placement students passed the final tests to gain college credit because ‘he lived and breathed calculus; for him it was a piece of theater.’ Teachers called Leithold’s students over the weekend and asked them to discuss his passing at a special Sunday afternoon class at the high school. The sad news was delivered as students were studying for the statewide AP calculus final exam on Tuesday. ‘The kids know that the best thing to do in these circumstances is to do well on the test. That didn’t have to be said,’ Kelly said. Leithold surprised many Malibu students with an encyclopedic knowledge of and vivid enthusiasm about the film industry, and was advisor to the school’s Film Club. He collected and sold vintage movie posters and was as well known in that community as he was in the world of mathematics. ‘He was a national treasure,’ Barefoot said in Arizona. ‘He always said that if his textbook washed up on a desert island, someone could learn calculus just from picking up and reading that one book.’ Leithold is survived by a brother and two grandchildren. Funeral services were pending.

John O’Hare, actor and playwright, passed away at his home in Pacific Palisades on April 20. He was 82. Known for his comedic flair and good looks, O’Hare played leading roles both in summer stock and on Broadway before coming to Los Angeles to write. He was born on July 17, 1922 in La Junta, Colorado, and stayed in Colorado through high school, before departing for the drama department at the University of Washington. After he told his mother he wanted to be an actor, she blessed his decision and he soon migrated east to places like Erie, Pennsylvania and Wooster, Massachusetts, to do summer stock. He also performed at the Bucks County Playhouse, where he began his lifelong friendship with actress June Lockhart, with whom he toured in several shows. O’Hare’s acting career was interrupted for three years while he served in the Army Air Corps as a bombadier in the Pacific. In 1947, he met his future wife, actress Natalie Core, in summer stock in Wooster. The couple played opposite each other in several musicals and married on September 26, 1948. O’Hare continued acting, playing opposite the most glamorous actresses of the time, including Gloria Swanson in ‘Goose for the Gander,’ and Rosalind Russell, Beatrice Lillie and Greer Garson for 639 performances in ‘Auntie Mame’ on Broadway. After ‘Auntie Mame,’ O’Hare moved behind the scenes to concentrate on writing and produced his first play, ‘Pride and Joy,’ in 1954. In 1961, Natalie came to Los Angeles to play in the film version of ‘The Music Man,’ with Robert Preston. Once while John was visiting from New York, the couple decided to relocate to L.A., John saying that ‘he could just as well write here as there.’ The O’Hares lived in Santa Monica Canyon for two years before moving to their home on Rimmer in 1964. Dedicating himself to scriptwriting, O’Hare had a number of his plays produced both in the United States and Europe. His comedy ‘The Gentle Trap’ played London, then toured in both England and France. It has since been staged in Poland, Italy and Germany. Seven years ago, O’Hare had one leg amputated and the following year the other. But he went on with his life, enjoying his books and his Yorkies. His nurse, Mirna Guzman, who loved him like a father, relished their daily outings to the library, the park and to the ocean. O’Hare is survived by his wife, Natalie. In lieu of a memorial, there will be a private gathering of friends. Contributions may be made in his name to the Actors’ Fund of America, c/o Wallace Munro, 729 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019; or by e-mail: munro@actorsfund.org