Beverlee Myers, Ex-Health Chief, Dies

Beverlee A. Myers, the first woman and non-physician ever to head the California Department of Health Services, died early Wednesday at her home in Los Angeles.

Her death at age 56 was attributed to pancreatic cancer.

After leaving the state health department post, Mrs. Myers had been a professor and head of the division of health services at UCLA.

She was appointed director of the Department of Health Services by then-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. in 1978. She served until 1983 when Brown left office.

During her five-year tenure she supervised an extensive reform of the Medi-Cal program and a reorganization of the department mandated by the state Legislature. Earlier she had held a variety of posts with the U.S. Public Health Service and served as consultant to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary and the Senate Committee on Human Resources.

Mrs. Myers was considered an advocate of health care services for the poor and of the right of women to have abortions.

In lieu of flowers, her husband, Duane, suggests contributions to the Beverlee A. Myers Prize, care of the American Public Health Assn., 1015 15th St. N.W., Washington, D.C., 20005. That prize will be awarded to outstanding graduate students in public health at the University of Michigan, where she received her master’s degree, and at UCLA.