May 21, 2012 | 01:28
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Dec 16, 2010
Political scientist Eugene V. Wolfenstein is dead at 70
A memorial service for political scientist Eugene Victor Wolfenstein who died Dec. 15 of cancer will be held Saturday, Feb. 19 at 39 Haines Hall. The service will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Wolfenstein, 70, who became a psychoanalyst in the latter part of his career, graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Columbia College in 1962 and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University in 1964 and 1965. He came to UCLA July 1, 1965, as an assistant professor of political science and later became a full professor in 1979.
He was the winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1974-75.
In 1984, he received his Ph.D. in psychoanalysis from the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute, where he also taught from 1988 to 2002.
Wolfenstein was a recipient of the 1991 UCLA Mortar Board Faculty Excellence Award, in recognition of his dedication to teaching and the pursuit of academic freedom. In 1994, he won UCLA's Harriet and Charles Luckman Distinguished Teaching Award with distinction for graduate teaching. In 2002 and 2008, he received an Academic Advancement Program Faculty Recognition Award.
One of his last faculty duties was turning in grades last Friday, colleagues said. That day, he also submitted the final manuscript for his latest book, “Talking Books: Tony Morrison Among the Ancestors,” which will be available online shortly. Colleagues recalled that his constant companion was his standard poodle, Bela, who accompanied him to class and faculty meetings.
He is survived by his wife, Judy, and four children, Laura Shalliker, Lenny, Gabriel and Moses. He also had four grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, Feb. 19, at 39 Haines Hall from 2-4 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that memorial donations be made to the E. Victor Wolfenstein Award in Dialectical Thinking. The award will be given out annually to a political science student who writes an outstanding theoretical essay.
Checks may be mailed to the UCLA Political Science Department, 4289 Bunche Hall, Box 951472, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1472. On the memo line, write "Victor Wolfenstein Award."
