Obituaries : James Fonseca; Cal Lutheran Professor Emeritus

Cal Lutheran University officials are mourning the death of a popular professor emeritus who was also a leading national proponent of Esperanto, a language based on several foreign tongues designed as an international means of communication.

James Fonseca, a professor emeritus of Spanish at the university, died suddenly Friday of heart failure. He was 71.

His wife, Elizabeth Beale Fonseca, said Monday her husband was a popular teacher who was honored at Cal Lutheran homecoming ceremonies this fall and had served as grand marshal of the university’s homecoming parade.

“His retirement had just started and we were enjoying it to the hilt,” she said.

University officials said Dr. Fonseca taught at the school from 1965 until last May and served as a department chairman from 1980 to 1982. A Phi Beta Kappa scholar, he had a Ph.D. in Spanish from UCLA.

A resident of Thousand Oaks, Dr. Fonseca was a member of the board of the Esperanto League for North America and national president of the American Assn. of Teachers of Esperanto.

In an interview with The Times years ago, he said he became interested in the language in high school as a means of overcoming difficulties in Latin and German.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at United Methodist Church of Thousand Oaks, 100 E. Janss Road. Viewing is scheduled from 4 to 8 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday at Pierce Brothers-Griffin Mortuary, 101 E. Wilbur Road, Thousand Oaks.

The family asked that donations be made to United Methodist Church of Thousand Oaks, the Cal Lutheran University Library or the Los Angeles Unit for Recording for the Blind.