Esther Ritter Davis; Community College Chief

Esther Ritter Davis--an educator who rose from a rural school in Kansas through years of journalism teaching in the San Fernando Valley to assistant superintendent of the Los Angeles Community College District--died in a Hancock Park nursing home. She was 82.

Mrs. Davis, a San Clemente resident since 1988, died Saturday after a brief battle with cancer, said Bob Gomperz, a former student of hers and longtime friend of the family. Her teaching career began at age 17 in her native Kansas, where she taught in a rural elementary school. In 1938, Mrs. Davis moved to California where she taught in Encinitas for two years before moving to San Fernando High School.

In 1949, she became one of the first faculty members at the newly opened Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys, where she taught journalism for 20 years. In 1969, she was named assistant superintendent of the newly created Los Angeles Community College District. She retired in 1972, but was soon working at Pasadena City College and then the University of La Verne. She retired again in 1988.

She is survived by her husband Charles of San Clemente; sister Catherine Elyea of Palmdale and brother Ed Ritter of Corona. Memorial services will be held Friday at La Petra Hall at the University of La Verne. The family has asked that instead of flowers donations be made to journalism scholarship funds in her name at Valley College, Pasadena City College and the University of La Verne.