Culver City : Morris Marmon Dies; Active in Civic Affairs

Morris Marmon, who as an activist, school board member, planning commissioner and firebrand newspaper columnist was one of the most influential figures in Culver City’s politics for two decades, died at his home Sunday after a long illness. He was 70.

Marmon, who served on the Board of Education from 1969-77 and on the Planning Commission from 1977-81, won friends and enemies in recent years with his column in the Culver City News in which he regularly assailed the City Council on issues such as overdevelopment, traffic congestion and rudeness to constituents. Some observers said he was a catalyst for the slow-growth movement that swept two longtime incumbents, Richard R. Brundo and Paul A. Netzel, from the council last year.

“He single-handedly changed the whole complexion of politics in Culver City,” said Councilman Jim Boulgarides, a councilman in the 1970s who decided to run again last year at the urging of his old campaign manager, Marmon.

The criticism Marmon got for his views did not bother him, said Boulgarides. “He was serving the community, not himself.”

Syd Kronenthal, director of the city’s Human Services Department, agreed, calling Marmon “the conscience of the community.”

“I think whether you agreed with Morris Marmon or not, what he did was get people moving,” he said. “And I think an aroused public is a public that has good government.”

Long before he became active in city affairs, Marmon was a teacher, principal and regional administrator in the Los Angeles school system and was known for his student-first philosophy.

Bobby Blatt, now principal at Open Magnet School in the Fairfax District, recalled that when she was a teacher at Carthay Center School, Marmon, the principal, would always find excuses to work with her students, going with them on field trips or helping them build model boats for a regatta.

“He made people believe in themselves,” said Blatt. “He made mediocre teachers into beautiful, blossoming teachers by saying, ‘Yes, yes, you can do it, you have the ability.’ ”

“More people in the (Los Angeles Unified) School District consider him a mentor than any one person,” she said.

Marmon, who moved with his family from New York City to Los Angeles in 1936, was also active in religious affairs, serving as president of Temple Akiba in Culver City from 1965-67 and a religious school instructor at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.

He was buried Tuesday at Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles. He is survived by his wife, Pamela; a son, Victor, of Malibu; daughters Lisa of North Hollywood and Cheryl of Culver City, and a sister, Billie Slutsky, of Santa Monica.

The family is asking that donations be made to the Los Angeles Educational Partnership, (attention: Leslie Dorman), 315 W. 9th St., Suite 1110, Los Angeles, Calif. 90015; or the Culver City Morris Marmon Scholarship Fund, c/o Culver National Bank (attention: Debbie Harris), 5399 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, Calif. 90230.