* Samuel Neustadt; High School Math Teacher

Samuel Neustadt, a math teacher who taught at all three of the Conejo Valley Unified School District’s high schools, died at his home Monday after a 10-year battle with cancer. He was 74.

Neustadt was born Sept. 14, 1923, in New York. During the lean years of the Depression, his family moved to Los Angeles to stay with relatives and allow his parents to look for work. The family returned to New York briefly, but later returned to Los Angeles to stay.

In 1965, Neustadt and his wife, Shirley, moved from Los Angeles to Thousand Oaks.

“We looked in many places before we chose Thousand Oaks,” Shirley Neustadt said. “It was quiet and countrified; there were no big malls and no traffic then, and that’s what we were looking for.”

Neustadt commuted to his job as a math teacher at Belmont High School in Los Angeles. He retired in 1984, but continued to teach night school and work as a substitute teacher at Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park and Westlake high schools.

“He tried to retire, but he missed teaching,” his wife said. “He was such a good math teacher, the schools would request him by name.”

In addition to teaching, Neustadt worked as a volunteer for the Wellness Community of Westlake, KCET Public Television and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program at the Goebel Senior Center in Thousand Oaks.

He enjoyed deep-sea fishing, leather crafts and ceramics, collected succulents and cactuses, and took great pleasure in listening to classical music. His interest in birds led to his nickname, “The Bird Man.”

In addition to his wife of 42 years, Neustadt is survived by a son, David, of Santa Barbara; two daughters, Paula Neustadt of Thousand Oaks and Debra Neustadt Levine of Westlake Village; one sister, Tillie Lessin, and a grandson.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Wellness Community, 530 Hampshire Road, Westlake Village 91362, or the Livingston Memorial Hospice Program, 1996 Eastman Ave., No. 101, Ventura 93003.

A gathering of family and friends will be held at the home of Jay and Debra Neustadt Levine at 11 a.m. Sunday in Westlake Village.

Arrangements are under the direction of Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura.