Valerie Fields, former LAUSD board member and staffer to former Mayor Tom Bradley, dies

Valerie Fields, a former L.A. Unified School District board member and longtime staffer for former Mayor Tom Bradley, has died. She was 92.

Fields died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at her home in Los Angeles, daughter Jill Fields said.

A longtime volunteer for political campaigns, Fields joined Bradley’s campaign during his unsuccessful first bid for mayor in 1969. He was elected in 1973, with Fields organizing countless meet-and-greets across the San Fernando Valley, her daughter said.

“She later said to me, ‘If there were three people together somewhere in the San Fernando Valley, Tom Bradley and I were there,’ ” Jill Fields said. “She worked tirelessly.”

Fields was hired full-time on Bradley’s staff, serving as a liaison for education and cultural affairs and to the Jewish and Muslim communities. She worked for him for the 20 years he presided over the city, her daughter said.

She was elected to the school board in 1997. During her term, she led the effort to restore arts education in public schools, her daughter said.

Fields is survived by her husband, retired Superior Court Judge Jerry Fields; four children; three grandchildren; and five great grandchildren.

Her funeral will be held at 11:30 a.m. Friday at Mount Sinai Memorial Parks and Mortuaries in the Hollywood Hills.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek