May 06, 2008 Issue | Updated May 8 2:18pm 
Sep 25, 2007 8:00 AM
In Memoriam
Mitchel D. Covel
Mitchel D. Covel, associate dean of development and community relations at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, died Sept. 21 of natural causes at his home in Bel Air, Calif. He was 90.
Covel, a gifted physician and educator, distinguished himself as a mentor in the fields of medical education and philanthropy. He was an inspiring leader and a true friend of UCLA.
"Few individuals have had so great an impact on our university as Dr. Covel," said UCLA Chancellor Gene D. Block. "As a student, teacher, administrator and fundraiser, he leaves an indelible mark on our campus. His generosity and vision extended far beyond the School of Medicine to programs in science, the arts, student life and athletics. His memory, and especially his broad legacy, will live long at UCLA."
"Dr. Covel was an esteemed friend and colleague and a true philanthropic spirit at UCLA," said Dr. Gerald S. Levey, vice chancellor for medical sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "He was widely regarded as a wonderful physician, a gifted teacher and a natural leader. While he will be sorely missed, we celebrate his life and his far-reaching contributions to UCLA."
In a tribute to the unflagging spirit of generosity demonstrated by Covel and his wife, Susan, UCLA dedicated the Susan G. Covel and Mitchel D. Covel, M.D., Commons in 1998, an integral part of student life in the northwest area of the campus. Naming the commons at Sunset Village after the Covels, former UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale said, was an ideal way to honor them.
"Its location, close to where students live, study and play, with UCLA's full panorama always in view, epitomizes the spirit of Mitch and Susie's gift and the breadth of their commitment to UCLA," Carnesale sid.
Covel's association with UCLA dates to 1934, when he enrolled as an undergraduate. He earned his M.D. at UC San Francisco and was decorated for his courageous service as a battalion surgeon during World War II. After returning to Southern California, he established a private practice in internal medicine and cardiology. Covel joined the clinical faculty of the UCLA School of Medicine in 1960 and continued to hold an academic appointment in the school's department of medicine until his passing. While maintaining a private practice, he held numerous teaching and administrative appointments at the school, including an associate deanship.
For more than two decades, Covel led the Aesculapians &emdash; the school’s premier support organization, which he co-founded in 1974 and chaired &emdash; toward raising more than $18 million in vitally needed unrestricted funding for the school. He also co-founded the UCLA Medical Alumni Association.
Covel co-chaired Campaign UCLA, the university's more than $3 billion fundraising campaign. He joined the UCLA Foundation Board of Trustees in 1990 and also chaired the UCLA Foundation and its Board of Governors.
The Covels also made major gifts to support the UCLA College of Letters and Science, the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, the David Geffen School of Medicine and the School of the Arts and Architecture, where an endowed chair in music was established in their name.
Covel is survived by his wife, Susan, and two children, David Giler and Kendall Giler-Bradshaw. A private memorial service will be held by the family, and a special memorial service will be held at UCLA in the near future.
Benjamin Aaron
Benjamin Aaron, professor emeritus in the UCLA School of Law, died Aug. 25 in Los Angeles. He was 91.
Aaron joined the UCLA Institute of Industrial Relations in 1946 and became its director in 1960, a position he held for 15 years. During World War II, he spent four years as a staff member and executive director of the National War Labor Board and briefly served on the labor advisory commission to the Supreme Commander, Allied Powers, in Tokyo.
Aaron served on a number of panels, boards and commissions as an appointee of Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Bush Sr. Throughout his esteemed professional career, Aaron served on the faculties of some of the finest universities and centers in the world.
He joined the faculty of the UCLA Law School in 1960, where his contributions to the school, to hundreds of students over the years and to all who knew him personally are part of the legacy of his lifelong commitment and passion.
During his 60-year association with UCLA, Aaron wrote many books and scores of important articles. "Ben was a scholar of enormous authority and influence," said Michael Schill, dean of the UCLA Law School. "At the age of 91, Ben was still an active and engaged scholar. He was also a good man, a mentor and friend to many of us."
His presidential appointments included the National Commission on Technology, Automation, and Economic Progress and a statutory arbitration board to resolve the work-rules dispute on the nation's railroads. Since 1946, Aaron had served as an arbitrator of labor disputes in virtually every major industry.
He was twice appointed to the faculty of the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies and was a resident fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, Calif. He also served as a visiting fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, England, and was a visiting fellow at the School of Law, Australian National University. He is past president of the National Academy of Arbitrators, the Industrial Relations Research Association, and the International Society of Labor Law and Social Security, as well as a former member of the ILO Committee of the Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations.
In 1981, Aaron was the recipient of the American Arbitration Association's Distinguished Service Award. In 1996, he was elected a charter member emeritus of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.
Aaron wrote numerous articles on labor law and industrial relations, and edited various works on domestic and comparative labor law. His books include "Public Sector Bargaining" (1988) and "The Railway Labor Act at Fifty: Collective Bargaining in the Railroad and Airline Industries" (1977).
Aaron is survived by his wife, Eleanor Opsahl Aaron, and his daughters, Louise Aaron Ozawa and Judith Aaron Turner. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Benjamin Aaron Scholarship Fund. Checks should be sent to the UCLA School of Law, Box 951476, Los Angeles, CA 90095.
A celebration of Aaron's life will be held on the UCLA campus on Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 5:15 p.m. in Dodd Hall, Room 147.
Philomene Long
Philomene Long, a poet and filmmaker who taught in the Writers' Program for 16 years at UCLA Extension, died of heart failure Aug. 21 at her home in Venice. She was 67.
Born on Aug. 17, 1940, in New York City, Long moved with her family to San Diego as a teenager. She graduated from the Academy of Our Lady of Peace High School in San Diego and from Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles. She also earned an M.F.A. degree in 1980 from UCLA.
In the 1960s, Long befriended members of the Beat Generation poets of Southern California, part of the larger movement led by poets Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. She used the Beat influence in her writing, but also drew upon her interests and experience as a Zen practitioner and as a Catholic nun.
Among her works of poetry were "The Queen of Bohemia" and "The Ghosts of Venice West." She also wrote "American Zen Bones, Maezumi Roshi Stories," a prose work about the founder of the Zen Center of Los Angeles. Long also directed a film called "The Beats: An Existential Comedy," with poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
During her 16 years on the faculty of the Writers' Program at UCLA Extension, Long taught courses on the creative process and on poetry for non-poets. When Long retired, Linda Venis, director of UCLA Extension's Department of the Arts, said, "To hear her read her work; to listen to her speak to students in a voice that is as deep and poetic as her writings; to know that, in the tradition of the Venice Beats, she upholds 'the dream of salvation through creativity'; to glimpse the profound love she carries for her husband, John, who died in 2002 and who wrote: ‘Poetry is my passion, of course, my muse and my lady, Philomene': that is to brush up against someone for whom the mold has been broken."
Long is survived by her twin sister, Pegarty Long; her children, Maureen Luna-Long and Patrick Moore; and her grandchildren, Aiden and Tara Sandman-Long.
Yolanda Retter
UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) librarian Yolanda Retter, an activist devoted to raising the visibility of lesbians and minorities, died Aug. 18 after a brief illness. She was 59.
Widely respected in the Los Angeles lesbian community, Retter sought to achieve social justice for many overlooked groups, especially lesbians of color. She helped to organize lesbian history repositories at UCLA, USC and in West Hollywood. While serving as librarian and archivist for UCLA's Chicano Studies Research Center, Retter was instrumental in expanding holdings related to Latinas, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
She co-wrote or co-edited three books, including "Queers in Space”"(1997), a collection of essays that addressed how gays have shaped their environment.
Born in New Haven, Conn., in 1947, Retter grew up in El Salvador. She attended high school in Connecticut and moved to California to attend Pitzer College in Claremont in 1966, when it was still a women's college. She came out as a lesbian in 1969.
She spent the next several years helping to organize the budding lesbian liberation movement through her work in many groups, including the Latin American Lesbians of Los Angeles. Retter worked briefly as a prison guard at the California Institution for Women in Corona and managed a halfway house for displaced women in Los Angeles.
Retter earned master's degrees in library science (1983) and social work (1987) at UCLA, and received a Ph.D. in American studies at the University of New Mexico.
Chon Noriega, professor of film and television and director of the CSRC, said, "The CSRC's mission is simple and to the point: 'Research that makes a difference.' Yolanda exemplified that goal in everything that she did at the center, and in the many other things she did in the world. But Yolanda knew that sometimes research is not enough. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, Yolanda came to me asking for an extended leave so that she could go to New Orleans. 'I feel that it is the most important thing I can do right now,' she said. Alas, Yolanda’s knees had other ideas, and she was unable to volunteer, but that same spirit informed everything she did up until the end. She will be missed."
Retter is survived by her partner of 13 years, Leslie Golden Stampler; her father, Henry, and stepmother, Dottie, of Florida; Stampler's two children, Belinda and Martin; and six brothers and sisters.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sept. 29 at Metropolitan Community Church, 8714 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. Memorial donations may be sent to the Yolanda Retter Foundation, c/o Law Office of Karen L. Mateer, 618 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena, CA 91106.
Dennis Storer
Former UCLA soccer and rugby head coach Dennis Storer died at his home in Los Angeles on Sept. 8 after a battle with cancer. He was 75 years old.
Storer, who was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006, came to UCLA from Britain in 1966 and began an extraordinarily successful career as a UCLA faculty member as well as the head coach of the men's soccer and rugby programs.
In soccer, Storer was UCLA's first head coach at the NCAA level. He led his team to a remarkable 103-10-10 record from 1967-73. Although his teams did not field any scholarship players, the Bruins had three NCAA runner-up finishes, three West Coast championships and five All-Cal titles.
In rugby, Storer's teams compiled an outstanding 362-46-2 record against collegiate, major club and international teams during the period of 1966-82 and won three national championships (1968, 1972, 1975). While at UCLA, Storer also served as U.S. National Team coach in rugby from 1976-82, and 14 of the first U.S. National Team players were Bruins. He was named the National Rugby Association’s Coach of the Year in 1969.
Storer was widely recognized internationally as a coach and a great sportsman, as well as for his commitment to helping underprivileged youth. From 1968-82, he served as director of UCLA's National Youth Sports Programs, and during 1982-84 he served as British Olympic Association executive director and Attaché in U.S.A. for the L.A. Olympics. Storer was honored by Queen Elizabeth II with an OBE in 1994 for services in British/American education, sports and commerce. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1999.
Storer, a former captain in the Royal Engineers of the British Army, was also well known as a television commentator for both soccer and rugby, covering international rugby from England and World Cup soccer from Mexico.
"There was no greater friend or supporter for U.S. rugby than Dennis," said former UCLA rugby player Gordon Bosserman, who was introduced to the game by Storer. "He was in on the ground floor. He was the first coach of the U.S. Eagles rugby team and stayed very active over the years. We've lost a great friend of United States rugby, and we’ve lost a real legend."
"Dennis was a very supportive man who was a mentor, a coach and a friend to all of us," said former UCLA soccer player and current volunteer assistant coach Jose Lopez. "He definitely was loved by many."
He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, and his children, Gareth, Anna-Kristina and Maria.
There will be a campus celebration of Storer's life in November. Details will be posted on the UCLA Rugby Web page and the UCLA Soccer Web page.
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