Ilona Jo Katz; Santa Monica Community College District Trustee

Ilona Jo Katz, 66, a longtime trustee for the Santa Monica Community College District who also served on the board of directors of the California Community College Trustees, including one year as president. Born in Montana, Katz grew up in Southern California, graduating from Beverly Hills High School and attending UCLA. She spent 10 years in the marketing business and became interested in the Santa Monica school board, which then governed both the local unified and college districts, in the 1970s. She was elected to the board in 1977 and served as chairman four times. Because both of her sons were blind from a rare form of eye cancer and died before reaching adulthood, Katz championed programs for disabled students in the district. She once even got college administrators to spend a day in wheelchairs to judge access on campus. Memorial donations to create the Ilona Jo Katz Chair of Excellence in the Santa Monica College Music Department may be made to the college’s foundation at 1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, 90405. Donations may also be made to the Cedars-Sinai Cancer Center. On Wednesday of cancer at her home in Santa Monica.