Stanley Rokaw; Pulmonary Specialist

Stanley Rokaw, a pulmonary specialist known nationally for his research on the effects of air pollution on the human respiratory system and most recently medical director of the Los Angeles County chapter of the American Lung Assn., died Thursday.

He was 65 and suffered an apparent heart attack at his Downey home.

Rokaw, who received his medical degree with honors from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, had been a professor of medicine at USC, UCLA and the University of California at Irvine.

He also had been on the staffs or director of respiratory services at Downey Community and Rio Hondo hospitals in Downey, St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, County-USC Medical Center, Veterans Administration hospitals in San Fernando and Long Beach and at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital.

One of his singular contributions to pulmonary research was the development of an Environmental Laboratory at Rancho Los Amigos where human volunteers are subjected to various air pollutants in a controlled environment.

The laboratory has attracted researchers from throughout the United States and Canada.

Rokaw maintained a lifelong interest in the environment and was a longtime member of the Environmental Protective Assn.

His survivors include his wife, Phyllis, two sons and a daughter. Services are scheduled today at 3 p.m. at Mt. Sinai Chapel.

The family asks contribution to the L.A. chapter of the lung association, which Rokaw joined in 1970.