James E. Lu Valle; Student Leader, 1936 Olympic Medalist

James E. Lu Valle, 80, an early African-American student leader at UCLA who also brought honors to the school with a bronze medal in the 1936 Olympics in the 400 meters. Lu Valle was elected by his fellow students as the first president of the Associated Graduate Students, forerunner of the Graduate Students Assn. He was captain of the UCLA track team during his 1933-37 college career and after earning a master’s degree in chemistry and physics became one of the first teaching assistants in the chemistry department. In 1940 he earned his doctorate at Caltech, where he performed research for Linus Pauling and later became director of the undergraduate chemistry labs at Stanford University. On Jan. 30 of a heart attack in New Zealand, where he was vacationing.