Sylvia Zankich; Headed Social Services Board Under Mayor Yorty

Sylvia Zankich, 87, the first honorary mayor of San Pedro and president of the Los Angeles Social Services Commission in Mayor Sam Yorty’s Administration. Born in Black Hawk, N.J., Ms. Zankich moved to Long Beach with her family when she was a baby. At age 12, the fisherman’s daughter went to work in waterfront canneries. At 15, she became a taxi dancer, earning 7 cents for a dance. Over the years, Ms. Zankich operated a series of bars and restaurants and bail bond offices in the Harbor area. She befriended Republicans and Democrats and the walls of her office were lined with photos of her with such political luminaries as Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. She was always concerned with the welfare of dockworkers and minorities, so Yorty decided that she was a natural to head the Social Services Commission in 1968. On Feb. 19 in Palm Springs of complications from diabetes.