Words of Hope at Lakin Funeral : Mourning: The college chancellor is remembered as a scholar dedicated to improving the lives of others.

Friends and colleagues from around the state gathered in a small Hollywood Hills chapel Saturday for the funeral of Thomas G. Lakin, chancellor of the Ventura County Community College District, sharing with his family warm recollections of his commitment to life and knowledge.

Running shoes, a racquetball racket and flowers rested atop the coffin as a handful of speakers eulogized the longtime educator, who died one week ago after an all-night battle against necrotizing fasciitis, the so-called flesh-eating bacteria.

Nearby, Lakin’s widow and four daughters sat quietly, listening to messages of hope and support offered by friends and mourners.

Lakin, 50, who had served as chancellor of the three-campus district since 1991, was remembered as a scholar dedicated to improving the lives of others through education.

He spent more than half his life in academia, motivating students and co-workers to strive for success and challenging young people to better themselves through knowledge.

Hundreds of mourners crowded the chapel at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, spilling into the lobby and onto the lawn of the hillside mortuary, which overlooks the east San Fernando Valley.

Lakin’s two older daughters joined others in weaving personal anecdotes about the late chancellor into fond remembrances that brought tears to the eyes of many of those gathered.

Some mourners spoke of the great influence Lakin had on their lives, while others celebrated the generosity and sense of humor the chancellor so often displayed.

“I hope that all of you gathered here this morning will take that love and hold it in a special place,” said Brenda Lakin-Clapp, sister of the veteran educator.

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Thomas L. Stevens Jr., president of Los Angeles Trade Technical College, said he first encountered Lakin two decades ago during a seminar at Southwest College. He remembered the late chancellor as an inquisitive professional bent on making a contribution.

“He raised every question under the sun during the question-and-answer session” at the seminar, Stevens told the audience.

“It became clear over time that Tom would have a bright and productive career,” said Stevens, who credited Lakin with doubling enrollment at Southwest College in his first two years as president. He said the educator was as comfortable discussing economic theory as he was pop music.

“He brought a can-do attitude that became contagious among his staff,” Stevens said.

Lesa Lakin, 28, the oldest of the chancellor’s daughters, recalled a lesson taught her by her father after she stayed out all night once in the weeks before leaving for college, worrying her grandparents.

As punishment, she said, Lakin drove his daughter to school nearly two weeks early, then left her without her car for her entire freshman year.

“But I learned that I was wrong,” she said Saturday. “You have to be responsible and you have to be considerate. That lesson and a lot of others like it are what made Dad great.”

Lori Lakin, the chancellor’s 25-year-old daughter, read excerpts from letters sent by her father while she was at college in the 1980s.

“ ‘Please do not inform me of any effort that isn’t exemplary,’ ” she quoted her father as writing. In another note, Lakin wrote to his daughter that he had not heard from her older sister for some time.

“ ‘She knows how to pop up when funds run out,’ ” the father wrote in jest to Lori about her sister. “I expect to hear from her any day now.”

The daughter said Lakin often sent her recordings of his favorite artists, home-taped cassettes labeled “Expanding Lori’s musical appreciation beyond the Top 20.”

The chancellor, a long-distance runner who also collected hats, instilled a strong sense of dedication in those he worked with, said Gabriel McCurtis, principal at Pacific High School in Ventura.

“He always said when you develop a daily discipline, you will develop success,” McCurtis remembered.

Melvis Lee said he was perhaps Lakin’s closest friend. He described a backpacking trip the two took to Yosemite several years ago, when they encountered a black bear.

“At that point, all the friendship was off,” Lee said, recalling how the two hikers had run in fear.

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But minutes later, Lakin stopped running and confronted the bear, eventually enticing it to wander away. “Tom walked up to me and said ‘Are you all right?’ ” Lee said. “I said ‘Yes, but you’re a fool.’

“Tom was that kind of person--a caring person, a friend,” Lee said.

Two actors recruited by Lakin to star in videotape productions aimed at attracting students to the struggling Southwest College recounted their first meeting with the then-president.

William Allen Young and Howard Ransom told the mourners how nervous they were to meet the successful president, and how they first mistook Lakin for a janitor because he was dusting books and wiping away smudges from the shelves when they entered his office.

“We looked around, waiting to see the king,” Young said. “He put down his feather duster. Then we noticed, looking at the picture behind him, he looked just like the president.”

Ransom said Lakin greeted them with an urban colloquialism--”Hey, homes”--and invited them to sit down.

“He was all things in one--the janitor, the college president, and he was from the ‘hood,” Ransom said. “ ‘Don’t quit’ he would say. ‘Don’t ever quit. Run, walk--crawl if you have to--until you cross the finish line.’ ”

Another memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday on the lawn just south of the college district headquarters at 71 Day Road in Ventura.