Frankel, Animals’ Best Friend, Dies

A cat that Ruth Frankel once rescued from its feral state was curled up beside her on the bed when the animal rights activist died in her small Newport Beach apartment after a 40-year battle with leukemia.

Frankel, 87, was founder of the Animal Assistance League of Orange County and well-known as a champion of stray and neglected animals for more than 30 years.

“She turned many feral cats over and made them adoptable,” said Gail Dennison of Fountain Valley, a league board member and friend of Frankel’s for the past decade. “She had incredible patience and the perfect touch.”

Phanni, the gray cat with tiger stripes had been tamed by Frankel over the last year, Dennison said.

Phanni, one of hundreds of cats and dogs that Frankel had rescued, was found abandoned with her five kittens in a corner of the Balboa Theater. Frankel promptly found homes for the babies, but nobody wanted the mother, so Frankel took in the scruffy feline herself.

“She wasn’t supposed to have pets in the apartments she lived in,” Dennison said. “But when a pet had an emergency, she would sneak it in.”

Frankel’s animal activism was her second career. After earning a master’s degree in teaching from USC in 1940, she taught English and history for 31 years at Huntington Beach High School.

She started the nonprofit Animal Assistance League after she retired. The 27-year-old organization now has kennel capacity for 20 animals, a roster with hundreds of volunteers, a low-cost spay and neuter program and an $1,800-a-month budget from private donations.

“She helped build this organization up from when they were operating out of a garage on a shoestring budget,” said Jackie Keener, president of the league. Frankel was instrumental, she said, in coordinating a help line to reunite lost pets with their owners.

Friends recall Frankel as a no-nonsense woman who dressed in polyester pantsuits with sensible shoes and wore her gray hair cropped short. She took the same no-nonsense approach to her work, keeping the volunteers on their toes and being practical about the kennel’s limited capacity.

“She felt that animals were as important as people,” Dennison said. “She wanted to teach the children about humane treatment for pets when they are young.”

But mostly, she said, Frankel wanted to save as many animals as possible.

“She didn’t get as upset or bent out of shape as some people in animal work do,” said Lee Nelson of Fountain Valley, a vice president of the league. “She didn’t lose her temper very often and was diplomatic and very much the lady.”

A memorial service for Frankel, who died Feb. 22, will begin at 3 p.m. Sunday at Fairview Community Church, 2525 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa.

She is survived by her niece, Jackie Cenoz of Winchester; and two great-nephews, Jon and Paul Cenoz. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Animal Assistance League of Orange County, P.O. Box 38, Midway City, CA 92655.