Chief collapses at ceremony, dies
July 16, 1966: Los Angeles Police Chief William H. Parker had just received an award and returned to his banquet table at the Statler Hilton Hotel when he leaned back in his chair and began gasping.
He died 35 minutes later at Central Receiving Hospital, The Times reported.
At the time Parker collapsed, more than 1,000 Marine veterans were giving the 64-year-old chief a standing ovation after the 2nd Marine Division Assn. had presented him with a special award.
Parker, the city’s 40th police chief, had returned to his job a month earlier after being on sick leave, having undergone heart surgery the year before.
“Chief Parker was a fiercely devoted policeman who held the gloomy view that the nation was careening along the road to disaster. But he never surrendered to his fears of national calamity,” the newspaper said.
“Because of them -- or in spite of them -- Parker forged and sustained one of the finest police departments in the nation.”
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