Ronnie Kemper; Singer Recorded ‘Cecilia,’ ‘I’m a...

Ronnie Kemper; Singer Recorded ‘Cecilia,’ ‘I’m a Little Teapot’

Ronnie Kemper, 84, big band singer and pianist known for his recording of “Cecilia.” Kemper also recorded “I’m a Little Teapot” and wrote and recorded “It’s a Hundred to One I’m in Love” and “The Doodle Bug Song.” A native Californian, Kemper developed as a musician in high school and in 1930 joined the dance band of Dick Jurgens. The band regularly played Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom and the Catalina Casino. Kemper also sang with Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights and appeared with them in the 1941 movie “Pot O’Gold.” The singer also had a radio show based in Los Angeles and hosted “Kemper’s Kapers” on Channel 13. He played for many years at San Francisco’s Domino Club and organized “Kemper Clambake” variety shows for that city’s Press Club. He later performed in Sacramento and on cruise ships. Kemper led a drive in the mid-1980s to place a historical plaque at the site of the former Rendezvous Ballroom in Newport Beach. On Feb. 15 in Sacramento of a heart attack.

Robert McNulty; Long Beach Civic Leader

Robert McNulty, 81, Long Beach civic leader who started free taxi service for the disabled and elderly. A native of Pine Bluff, Ark., McNulty moved to Long Beach in his youth and in 1937 co-founded the city’s Diamond Cab Co. He later bought another taxi company and soon instituted his “Dial-a-Lift” program. A vice president of the Los Alamitos Racetrack, McNulty served on the Long Beach Water Commission, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, Civil Service Commission and National Safety Council. As president of the local Lion’s Club he hosted the annual Miss Universe Pageants in Long Beach in the 1950s. McNulty was also a board member for three Long Beach hospitals, the United Way, Red Cross, Community Chest and Travelers Aid Society. An avid horseman, he was a founder and former president of the Long Beach Mounted Police and led the unit in many New Year’s Day parades in Pasadena and presidential inaugural parades in Washington. He also appeared on horseback in the film “Around the World in 80 Days.” On Sunday in Long Beach of lung cancer.

Martin Slate; Chief of Federal Pension Agency

Martin Slate, 51, executive director of the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. The agency insures 55,000 defined benefit pension plans covering 42 million workers through premiums paid by company sponsors of the pension plans. A law school classmate of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Slate had been the pension agency’s executive director since 1993. He formerly headed the pension law enforcement office at the Internal Revenue Service, where he created a scholarship program to help minority lawyers earn advanced degrees in taxation. He also initiated an Internet effort to find people eligible to receive uncollected pension benefits. Slate earned degrees from Harvard University, Yale Law School and Georgetown University. On Monday in Bethesda, Md., of a heart attack.

Peter Stewart; Muralist Illustrated Endangered Species

Peter Stewart, 41, a muralist who highlighted Southern California communities with his bold images of endangered animals, rain forests and Vietnam veterans. A veteran, Stewart in 1995 directed a dozen homeless veterans in painting a 26,000-square-foot mural on an underpass for the Veterans Administration Medical Center in West Los Angeles. His other projects included murals of endangered animals and the Amazon rain forest at the Amazon Bar and Grill in Sherman Oaks, the Irvine Ranch Market in Newport Beach and the Emerald Forest Restaurant on Balboa Island, and the names of 2,273 soldiers unaccounted for in Southeast Asia on a brick wall of a bus yard in Venice. A California native, Stewart said he began painting murals after the war when he was hired to paint houses and “one thing led to another.” Stewart was active in Orange County People for Animals, the Fund for Wild Nature, the Rainforest Action Network and the Jane Goodall Institute. On Feb. 6 on Balboa Island after a short illness.

Byron P. Weintz; Concrete Company Executive, Civic Leader

Byron P. Weintz, 88, major concrete contractor and civic leader. Born in Indiana, Weintz was trained as a civil engineer at Purdue University and the University of Colorado. He worked for the Missouri Highway Department and the federal Works Progress Administration reconstructing Ft. Leonard Wood, and then served with the Navy Seabees in Alaska during World War II. He spent the rest of his career with Consolidated Rock Products Corp., now known as Cal Mat Co., rising to president in 1971 and chairman and chief executive officer in 1978. Weintz served on the board of directors of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the Hathaway Home for Children. On Feb. 19 in Irvine of a perforated ulcer.

Jerry Wiley; Chief Administrative Officer of USC Law School

Jerry Wiley, 63, vice dean and chief administrative officer of the USC Law School. As CAO for three decades, Wiley was responsible for the law school’s finances, personnel, facilities and fund-raising. He also taught liability and health care law. Among his many publications was “California Cancer Quack Laws: The Best Is None Too Good.” Born in Borger, Texas, Wiley earned a bachelor’s degree at Union College in Lincoln, Neb., and in 1955 founded Jerry Wiley and Associates, a planning and fund-raising firm for professional, service and educational institutions such as the American Medical Assn. and Loma Linda University. Wiley earned a master’s degree in economic and social history from the University of Nebraska and a law degree at USC, then joined the school’s administration and faculty in 1967. He served on the boards of La Sierra University, Loma Linda University and its medical center, White Memorial Medical Center, the Hewitt Research Foundation and the Southern California Assn. of Seventh-day Adventists. On Friday in Los Angeles of cancer.