* Samuel Haim Katz; Headed Los Angeles Rabbinical Court

Samuel Haim Katz, 83, for 25 years president of the Los Angeles Rabbinical Court and a Talmudic scholar consulted by Jews from throughout the world. As head of the court, Katz ruled on questions of conversion, adoption of children, abortions, problems with civil marriages and other matters of Jewish faith and law. Among his writings was the “Sayings of Samuel.” He was published in the United States and Israel. Rabbi Katz also was spiritual leader of the Ohev Shalom Congregation on Fairfax Avenue and during the 1950s hosted a Los Angeles-area radio program. Born in Lithuania, he came to the United States in 1939 after graduating from Lithuania’s Yeshivat Slobodkah, an internationally recognized center of Jewish learning. On Monday in Los Angeles.