Longtime UCLA Scholar Gustave O. Arlt Dies

Gustave O. Arlt, dean emeritus of the UCLA graduate division and a nationally known leader in graduate studies, died Thursday. He was 91.

A family friend said Arlt, who lived in Marina del Rey, had been ill for about three weeks. He died of apparent heart failure at Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital.

Although Arlt’s speciality was German language and literature, he was a man of wide-ranging interests and was active in many civic, cultural and service organizations at the national, state and local levels. He also was an author, editor and translator of both popular and scholarly works, and a folklorist of note.

Arlt played a major role in the establishment in 1965 of the National Endowment for the Arts and in 1962 was founding president of the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington.

Pennsylvania Native

A native of Lockhaven, Pa., Arlt was a graduate of the University of Chicago and took his Ph.D. in Germanic languages there.

He joined the UCLA faculty in 1935 as a full professor of German language and literature and chairman of the German department. He was named associate dean of the university’s graduate division in 1950 and was elevated to dean in 1958, a position he held until 1962, when he went to Washington to head the Council of Graduate Schools.

Throughout his career at UCLA, Arlt continued to teach both undergraduate and graduate classes in his specialties. While performing his administrative and teaching duties, he found time to write five books of his own, including “Humanities in a Scientific World.” He also translated several works of fiction by the German author Franz Werfel into English, one of which became a Broadway play, “Jacobowsky and the Colonel,” and a motion picture, “Me and the Colonel.”

Journal Editor

Arlt edited scholarly journals, such as the Southern California Quarterly, California Folklore Quarterly, Modern Language Forum, Western Folklore Journal and the Quarterly Journal of the Historical Society of Southern California. In 1949-50, Arlt was director of the California Literary Centennial, and between 1957 and 1962 served as chairman of the annual birthday celebration of the City of Los Angeles.

Earlier this year, Arlt received the UCLA Service Award for outstanding contributions to the university.

He is survived by his wife, Ruth, and daughter, Marlene Sigmund.

Funeral arrangements are pending.