Ilona Jo Katz, Longtime Champion of Santa Monica College, Dies After Long Bout with Cancer

By Jorge Casuso and Teresa Rochester

Ilona Jo Katz, 66, a statewide champion of special education who for nearly a quarter century embodied the heart and soul of Santa Monica College, died Wednesday at her Santa Monica home. She had been fighting a 30-year battle with cancer.

Services will be held at 11:30 a.m. Sunday in the SMC Amphitheatre, 1900 Pico Blvd. Internment will be at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica.

"To many in the community, and, indeed, the state, Ilona Jo Katz was Santa Monica College," said Piedad Robertson, the college's president and superintendent. "But beyond the impressive record of public service, Ilona Jo Katz was a woman of deep devotion to our students and employees. She wasn't just a friend to Santa Monica College, she was its No. 1 cheerleader.

"She had heart. She had strength. And she used those to our advantage," Robertson said.
"Ilona leaves a gaping hole in the fabric of this college, of this community."

Katz was a member of the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees since 1977, serving as board chair four times. During her tenure, she held several leadership posts on California education organizations, particularly in the areas of special education and community college governance.

Katz also served 10 years on the Board of Directors of the California Community College Trustees, including one year as president. She was the only community college trustee appointed by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors to serve on the search committee to select the state chancellor in 1988. In addition, she served on five community college accreditation teams in California.

"What can you not say about Ilona," said Herb Roney, a member of the board of trustees. "Her life was a total range of vitality. She was a mother, a wife, a friend, a national civic leader.

"She was a friend who was concerned about education, concerned about Santa Monica College, which she loved very much," Roney said. "She was really unwavering in her love of it."

Katz was instrumental in breaking the board off from the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District in 1982, Roney said.

Roney recalls that he and Ilona were once at a conference, where she was a speaker. As the two sipped wine in the lobby of the facility, Roney turned to her and said, "You're going to be late."

"Herb," Ilona responded, quoting an old church song. "When the role is called up yonder I'll be there."

"And Ilona is there. She's really remarkable," said Roney.

A former trustee of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, Katz had been involved in education and community service for more than 30 years, through such organizations as the PTA and YMCA. Her honors included awards from the Santa Monica Lions Club, the Santa Monica Mayor, the YMCA (Family of the Year), the YWCA and the California PTA.

Former Mayor Nat Trives' family and the Katz's held season tickets for the Bruins and the two families sat only eight seats apart. Trives remembers Ilona alternating between cheering and knitting, cheering and knitting.

"We battled together on a number of issues on the college and many propositions to help the school district," said Trives, who also taught at the college and knew Ilona through the board of Trustees. "Ilona was always there putting education on the top rung of the ladder."

Born April 29, 1933 in Montana, Katz moved with her family to Los Angeles when she was a child. A graduate of Beverly Hills High School, she attended UCLA and spent 10 years in the marketing business.

She is survived by her husband, architect Herb Katz of Santa Monica, a former City Councilman and the chair of the Bayside District Corp. board of directors, and daughter Dana Katz Wood of Santa Monica.

Memorial donations to create the Ilona Jo Katz Chair of Excellence in the Music Department may be made to the Santa Monica College Foundation. Donations may also be made to the Cedars Sinai Cancer Center, 8700 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles 90048, or the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (Dr. Curley Research Fund), POBox 297153, Houston, Texas 77297.