* Joseph Peter Lamont; Co-Founded Law School

Joseph Peter Lamont, founding president of the University of San Fernando Valley College of Law, has died in Lewisburg, Pa. He was 81.

Lamont, formerly of Sepulveda, died Friday of cancer, said Leo L. Mann, who co-founded the school with Lamont. It merged with another school three years ago to become the University of La Verne College of Law at San Fernando Valley.

Born Feb. 28, 1909, in Manhattan, N.Y., Lamont graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Manhattan College in 1931. He later moved to California, where he had a public relations office in Sun Valley. At Sun Valley Rotary Club meetings, Lamont became acquainted with Mann, an attorney, who learned of Lamont’s desire to start a law school in the Valley.

In the fall of 1962, the school opened in a storefront in Encino with 52 students. Two years later, a campus was built in Sepulveda that accommodated 1,375 students in the late 1970s. Lamont, who earned a juris doctor degree from the school, handled registrar duties and taught legal method classes.

Lamont, who retired in 1977, had been living in a retirement hotel in Pennsylvania since June.

He is survived by a son, Stephen S. Lamont of Lewisburg, Pa., and three grandchildren.

A graveside service was held Tuesday at Eden Memorial Park in Mission Hills. Donations can be made in Lamont’s name to the American Cancer Society.