Dora Ashford; Santa Monica Fair Housing Project Coordinator

Dora Ashford, 51, coordinator of Santa Monica’s Fair Housing Project that pioneered rent control. From 1977 to 1981, Ms. Ashford was also executive director of the Fair Housing for Children Coalition in Santa Monica. In that capacity, she worked for the adoption of an ordinance banning housing discrimination against families with children. Her community activities prompted her to study criminal justice at Cal State Long Beach and to obtain a law degree from UCLA. She served as a Santa Monica housing commissioner from 1980 to 1983. In 1988, Ms. Ashford was sentenced to state prison for manslaughter in the 1986 shooting death of a former boyfriend. More than 100 letters of support were sent to the court praising her community activities on behalf of tenants and children’s rights and preservation of her Ocean Park neighborhood. After serving her sentence, Ms. Ashford moved to Indiana. On Thursday in Valparaiso, Ind., of a malignant brain tumor.