Obituaries
Ralph Dills, long-time legislator, 92
Former state Sen. Ralph Dills (M.A. ’33), the state’s longest-serving lawmaker and one of two California legislators to protest the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, died May 23. He was 92.
Dills started his career as a teacher in the 1930s. He was a state assemblyman from 1939 until 1949, then served as a Municipal Court judge in Los Angeles County until 1966. He was elected to the Senate in 1966, and was barred from running for re-election in 1998 by term limits.
His last campaign slogan in 1994 was “too old to quit.”
For taking a stand against President Roosevelt’s internment order, Dills and the late Sen. Jack Shelley, were targeted for expulsion. That effort failed, and Dills was honored by the Legislature last year for his protest.
He was also known at the Capitol as one of the Dills Brothers—his brother Clayton served in the Assembly from 1943 to 1966, and another brother, Curly, worked as an elevator operator. All played musical instruments and often played together in jazz bands.
Dills was born in Rosston, Texas, in 1910, moving to California when he was 15 years old. He earned degrees from USC and UCLA.
Fred D. Fagg III, son of ex-USC president, 68
Fred D. Fagg III (BA ’56), former dean of Lewis & Clark Law School and son of former USC President Fred D. Fagg Jr., died April 19 at the age of 68 after battling melanoma. Born in Evanston, Ill., Fagg’s academic and professional accomplishments are respected throughout the legal and academic community. After studying psychology at USC, he earned an M.B.A. from the Harvard School of Business Administration in 1960, and graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1963. Upon graduation, he joined the Los Angeles law firm of Overton, Lyman and Prince, where he focused on criminal and civil antitrust litigation.
Fagg joined the Lewis & Clark Law School in 1970 as an associate professor and became dean just three years later. During his tenure, he guided the school to full accreditation by the American Bar Association, to membership in the American Association of Law Schools and into the Legal Research Center.
His father, Fred D. Fagg Jr., served as USC President from 1946 to 1958 and was the impetus behind a land acquisition program that included the purchase of land near the Los Angeles County Hospital for a health sciences campus.
Philip M. Newman, Superior Court justice, 85
Philip M. Newman, (B.A. ’40) a former Los Angeles County Municipal and Superior Court judge who worked to provide legal services to the poor, died May 22 in Los Angeles of natural causes. He was 85.
Named to the Municipal Court in 1964 by California Gov. Pat Brown, he was elected presiding judge in 1975 by his colleagues. In August of that year, he was elevated to the Superior Court by Gov. Jerry Brown, the former governor’s son.
A devoted advocate for the poor, Newman was appointed by President Johnson to the national advisory committee for the OEO Legal Services corporation in 1966—a pioneering federal agency that helped make legal services available to the poor.
Newman was born in Mexico City, and moved with his family to Los Angeles when he was 10. He graduated from USC College and Pacific Coast University School of Law before serving in the Coast Guard during World War II.
Mayor Tom Bradley named him chairman of the Los Angeles-Mexico City Sister City Committee in 1974.
Ken Umekubo, Navy pilot, 36
Ken Umekubo (B.A. ’88), who had served as a decorated pilot in the U.S. Navy, died May 18 in Miami, Fla., after an accidental fall. He was 36.
Umekubo graduated with a B.A. in psychology from USC College in 1988, and was president of the Gamma Epsilon Omega Fraternity. After leaving USC, he attended Naval Aviation School and served as an F-14 Tomcat flight officer until 1994. During deployment to the Persian Gulf, Umekubo flew combat missions over Iraq and air missions during peace-keeping operations in Somalia. He earned an Air Medal for meritorious achievement in combat flying.
Passionate about community service, Umekubo was an active member of the Asian-American Drug Abuse Program, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit and Habitat for Humanity. He also worked closely with high-school students to develop programs that discouraged drug use and encouraged education—a commitment that later earned him recognition by President Reagan. |
