Kathleen Bartizal; Hidden Hills Councilwoman

Kathleen D. Bartizal, former Hidden Hills mayor who served on the City Council since 1984, has died at a Tarzana hospital. She was 56.

Hidden Hills Mayor G. Stanley said in a statement that she “brought a sense of history, continuity and balance to the City Council and, although we will miss her personally, her generosity, her work and her inspiration will be felt by all of us for many years to come.”

Mrs. Bartizal died Thursday of cancer, said her husband, Bob Bartizal.

Born in York, Neb., she attended Smith College in Northampton, Mass., for two years and earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1959 from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

In 1975, she and her family moved from St. Paul., Minn., to Hidden Hills at the west end of the San Fernando Valley. With the goal of maintaining Hidden Hills’ rural ambience, Mrs. Bartizal ran for City Council in 1984 and won by a single vote. In the 1988 and 1992 council elections, she ran unopposed and served as mayor from April, 1987, to April, 1989.

Mrs. Bartizal was a strong advocate of the city’s oak tree ordinance and worked to get an improved drainage system on Long Valley Road.

Bartizal had been president of the Hidden Hills Tennis Assn., past president of Hilltoppers’ Auxiliary of the Assistance League of Southern California, former board member of the Assistance League of Southern California, past president of Chapter AN of the PEO, and a Alpha Phi Sorority member.

City officials said Friday they had not yet decided how her position on the council would be filled.

In addition to her husband of 32 years, Mrs. Bartizal is survived by her sons, Jeff Bartizal of Acton and John Bartizal of Hidden Hills; daughter Julie Sears of San Pedro; mother Louise Dougherty of York, Neb., and two granddaughters.

A funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at Woodland Hills Community Church, 21338 Dumetz Road, where she was an active member. Burial will follow at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village. Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Mortuary is handling the arrangements.

Donations can be made in Mrs. Bartizal’s name to the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Foundation at UCLA, 9-667 Factor Building, 10833 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles 90024.