LATIMES.COM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2020B
March 24, 1944 - March 1, 2020LEE, Annette M.
Annette “Peppe” Maree Lee
departed this life at home in Largo,
MD, on March 1, 2020 while recovering
from a stroke. Annette was born in
Seattle, WA, on March 24, 1944. She
lived briefly in Cleveland, Ohio, before
moving to Los Angeles, CA, where she
attended LA City College and UCLA;
and worked as a manager at Blue Cross
of Southern California.
She was an extraordinary daughter,
wife, mother, and grandmother. She
taught elementary school before being
employed as an attorney recruiter
for the Council of the Better Business
Bureau in Arlington, VA, where she
retired in 2004.
Annette is survived by her beloved
husband of 44 years, Richard Lee;
brother Julius Simpson (Maria),
sister Patricia Gueta; six children,
Mia Gantt, Peter Gantt, Dorian Smith
(Dana), Richard Lee (Maggie), Alex
Lee, Jonathan Lee (Sophia) and three
grandchildren Trinity, Eden, and Scott;
and numerous nieces, nephews and
friends.
A funeral service and visitation
will be held on March 23, 2020 from
9 am to noon at Zion Church, 3600
Brightseat Rd., Landover, MD 20785.
Interment TBA at Arlington National
Cemetery in Arlington, VA. Funeral
arrangements by Simple Tribute
Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be
made to Bindura Christian Fellowship,
PO Box 6115, Largo, MD 20792-6115.August 20, 1929 - March 15, 2020EKIZIAN, Misak John
Misak (Mike) Ekizian, 90, of
Northridge, California, passed away on
March 15, 2020.
Misak was born in Racine,
Wisconsin, to Ohannes and Gulizar
Ekizian on August 20, 1929. He went
to high school at Waukegan Township
in Waukegan, Illinois, and graduated in- He went on to earn a Bachelor
of Science degree in Geology from
the University of Oklahoma in 1951.
He met his lifelong sweetheart, Rose
“Chickie” Karian, in the summer of
1950 at an Armenian Church Youth
Organization convention in Chicago,
Illinois, and they married on October
5, 1952. Misak and Rose followed their
dreams and drove out to California
soon after they married. He worked for
various aerospace corporations before
founding with two partners their
own electronic sales rep companies,
namely Black Ekizian and Strong, and
Bestronics. These companies sold the
transistors, chips, and components
that started the computer age, and
Mike was well known at Intel, Fairchild,
AMD, Avnet, and countless other
groundbreaking firms.
Mike retired in 1985 and enjoyed
golfing non-stop at Woodland Hills,
North Ranch and San Joaquin Country
Clubs. Besides golf, he enjoyed playing
and listening to classical and jazz
piano, beating you at backgammon,
pool, and pinochle, and participating
in Armenian men’s forums and groups
like TripleX Fraternity. He was involved
with St. Peter’s Armenian Church in
Van Nuys and St. Paul’s Armenian
Church in Fresno, the Western Diocese
of the Armenian Church, and the Ararat
Home in Mission Hills.
He is survived by his son Greg Ekizian
and Greg’s wife Kelly, his daughter
Susan Berns and her husband Bob,
grandchildren Madalyn, Jessica, Jane
and Jeremy. He was preceded in
death, just one month ago, by Rose,
his beloved wife of 67 years, his sisters
Mary and Alice, and his parents.
Memorial donations may be made to
CASA of Ventura County, PO Box 1135,
Camarillo, CA 93011. The family wishes
to extend their gratitude to the nurses
and caregivers at Premier Hospice, and
the owners and caregivers of Anamar
Senior Care in Northridge.
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1-800-234-Mount Sinai Memorial Parks
Hollywood Hills 800-600-
http://www.mountsinaiparks.orgVEYTS, Olga
Mount Sinai Memorial Parks
Hollywood Hills 800-600-
http://www.mountsinaiparks.orgTUNICK, Zena M.
Passed away peacefully at home
in La Cañada-Flintridge at age 100.
Beloved mother of Lisa Siskel Cochran
(Joe) and Suzanne Eloise Siskel (Peter
Gajewski) and cherished grandmother
of Kaitlin Ashley Cochran. In lieu of
flowers, contributions in her memory
to Westwood United Methodist
Church, Town and Gown of USC, and
P.E.O. are welcome.SISKEL, Eloise Faye
HancockMount Sinai Memorial Parks
Simi Valley 800-600-
http://www.mountsinaiparks.orgSIMON-LODWICK, Lynne
Jene Shinagawa, 66 years old,
resident of Torrance, CA passed
away on March 6, 2020 at Torrance
Memorial Hospital. She is survived by
her husband, Jeffrey Scott Shinagawa;
sister, Kathy Contreras in Lake
Arrowhead, CA; Niece, Kasey Contreras
also in Lake Arrowhead, CA; our dogs,
Comet and Jupiter. She is also survived
by many cousins, extended family
members and friends.
Funeral Service will be held at 11:
am on March 26 at Fukui Mortuary
“Chapel in The Garden” 707 E. Temple
St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.
http://www.fukuimortuary.com
(213) 626-SHINAGAWA, Jene
Mount Sinai Memorial Parks
Hollywood Hills 800-600-
http://www.mountsinaiparks.orgMALIN, Leonard
Stuart Whitman, the TV
and film actor whose screen
credits included roles be-
tween the 1950s and 2000,
among them “The Coman-
cheros” and “The Mark,” has
died.
Whitman died Monday at
his home in Montecito after
complications from skin
cancer, his son told the New
York Times. He was 92.
“Old Hollywood lost an-
other one of its true stars,”
his son told TMZ. “Stuart
Whitman was known for his
rugged roles and handsome
charm. We were proud of
him for his TV, film roles and
his Oscar nomination, but
what we will really remem-
ber is his exuberant love of
his family and friends.”
The California native had
more than 180 credits to his
name between the early
1950s and 2000. But he was
perhaps best known for his
westerns alongside Holly-
wood heavyweight John
Wayne, most notably in “The
Comancheros,” a 1961 film
directed by “Casablanca” di-
rector Michael Curtiz.
Whitman earned a best
actor Oscar nomination
that same year for this star-
ring role in the “The Mark,” a
controversial movie about a
pedophile. He was cast in
the 1965 aviation comedy
“Those Magnificent Men in
Their Flying Machines” and
played the leading character
in the 1972 sci-fi horror flick
“Night of the Lepus,” a cult
classic about mutated rab-
bits.
On TV, Whitman was just
as prolific.
In the mid 1950s, he
played a recurring role as
Sgt. Walters in the crime
drama series “Highway Pa-
trol,” which featured bud-
ding actors including Clint
Eastwood, Robert Conrad
and Barbara Eden.
The following decade,
Whitman starred as Marshal
Jim Crown in the TV western
series “Cimarron Strip.” It
premiered on CBS with
much attention, as the west-
ern was enjoying the last of
its heyday with the likes of
“The Big Valley,” “The High
Chaparral” and others. And
even though it lasted only
one season, that was all it
took to typecast its star.
“I got stamped as a cow-
boy,” Whitman told The
Times in 1996.
He was also known for
playing Clark Kent’s fatherin the series “Superboy”
(1988-1992).
In 2000, Whitman retired
after being featured in theTV movie “The President’s
Man,” which starred Chuck
Norris.
Whitman’s decades-longcareer was steady, if bumpy.
“I was bankable for a while,”
he told The Times in 1991.
“Then I did a couple of showsthat didn’t make any money.
Then I wasn’t bankable.”
But that never stopped
him from working steadily.
“As an actor you’ve got to
keep working. You’ve got to
do something to feed the
family, put the kids through
school, things like that.”
Whitman, who was born
Feb. 1, 1928, in San Francisco,
once admitted that he was a
juvenile troublemaker be-
fore he attended Hollywood
High. “I went to 26 different
schools before” high school,
he told told gossip columnist
Hedda Hopper. “My parents
married while in their teens
and were always traveling
around.”
As a young adult, his un-
cle secretly trained him as a
fighter and encouraged him
to become a heavyweight
boxer, but his father wanted
his son to join his law firm.
Whitman’s heart wasn’t in it
either.
After serving in the Army
Corps of Engineers, he in-
stead pursued acting.
“I’ve had to battle and say
what is an actor? It’s a fellow
who plays someone else. But
now I realize it’s the image
that makes a star,” he told
The Times in 1961. “John
Wayne is a great example of
a super actor. Gary Cooper
is another one. My image? I
think it’s being free and easy
and all man.”STUART WHITMAN, 1928 - 2020
Film, TV actor known for ‘Comancheros’
Associated PressPROLIFIC ACTOR
Whitman, center, had more than 180 film and TV credits from 1951 to 2000,
including “The Sound and the Fury” with Yul Brynner and Joanne Woodward.A highlight of his long
career was a best actor
Oscar nomination for
“The Mark” in 1961
By Dorany Pineda
price meals because they are
members of low-income
households. In Los Angeles
public schools the number is
even higher, at 80%; in
Compton it’s at 83%; Po-
mona, 89%.
Nationwide, well over half
the states in the country
have closed their public
schools or ordered them to
close in the coming days.
The K-12 school closures
come on top of widespread
actions by private colleges
and state universities — in-
cluding most of the Uni-
versity of California, to can-
cel in-person classes and
move to online learning.
Disease control experts
say aggressive measures to
“flatten the curve” and curb
the rapid spread of the new
coronavirus are likely to take
at least eight weeks — which
would extend school clo-
sures almost to the end of
the academic year.
State Supt. of Public In-
struction Tony Thurmond
said Tuesday night that
Newsom’s comment offers
an assessment of the future
school year with closed cam-
puses, but as of now “there is
no declaration that school is
over for the year.” He said
school districts need to be
fully prepared to shift their
method of instruction.
He added that officials
have not yet discussed the
option of extending the
school year into the summer.
“We’re not going to know
exactly what we need to do
until we have a sense of how
this is all going to go,” Thur-
mond said.
On Wednesday, Thur-
mond will lead a statewide
call for school district lead-
ers to examine the state’s
new guidelines on how to op-
erate, including online learn-
ing and meal distribution.
Newsom acknowledged
the challenging road ahead
and said that standardized
testing will not take place
this spring. “We think it is to-
tally inappropriate for kids
to worry” about being
tested, he said. Teachers
and students “already have
enough anxiety.”
Newsom could cancel the
testing through an executive
order, state officials told The
Times.
He felt the need to tell ev-
eryone what he’s been say-
ing to his own children. “I
don’t want to mislead you,”
he said. One of his daughters
was missing her school
friends on Monday night,
and he had to break it to her:
“‘Honey, I don’t think the
schools are going to open
again.’ And if I could tell my
daughter that, and not tell
your daughter that, or the
people, then I’m not being
honest or true to the people
of the state of California.”
Linda Darling-Ham-
mond, president of the state
board of education, put the
disruption in perspective.
“We haven’t had this kind
of shutdown of civil society
or schools since the Spanish
Influenza in 1918,” she said.
“It’s been a century since we
saw anything like this. And
in that case as well, whole
cities had to close down. So
the magnitude is enor-
mous.”
She said this moment
calls for communities to re-
flect on what they need and
care about most.
“School is one thing, but
they’re going to be people
losing their jobs,” she said.
“People who need to be able
to pay rent, people that need
to be able to eat, and we have
to be able to take care of that
as well.”
All hands in state govern-
ment and the private sector,
she said, “are stepping up to
assist or provide guidance”
to schools districts, she said.
The private sector has been
assisting, with broadband
access for low-income fam-ilies, for example.
She acknowledged that
the educational inequality
between the rich and poor
could be exacerbated ini-
tially by the shutdown of
schools. But, she hopes “a lot
more kids are going to have
devices in the home, and a
lot more neighborhoods are
going to have bandwidth
that didn’t have it because of
all of the contributions that
are coming in.”
Schools will develop new
ways to teach and learn with
technology, she said. “I don’t
think school will go back to
being entirely the way it was
in the country.”
Access to food and nutri-
tion is another concern
weighing on school districts.
Los Angeles Unified this
week has been ramping up
“grab and go” food services
to help feed more than half a
million children displaced
by the closing of schools due
to the coronavirus outbreak.
Children from poor and low-
income families usually re-
ceive their weekday break-
fast and lunch and, in some
cases, dinner on campus.
Starting on Wednesday,
parents and students can
pick up food at 60 sites scat-
tered throughout the na-
tion’s second-largest school
district. A complete list and
map of locations in Los An-
geles and information about
other resources have been
published on the district
website. All the locations are
set up for drive-through and
walk-up distribution.
Volunteers will provide
up to two packaged meals
per person between 7 a.m.
and 10 a.m. Every distribu-
tion center will have a hand-
wash station and supplies to
check the temperature of
workers. Because workers
are separated from those re-
ceiving food, officials said, it
won’t be necessary to con-
duct health screenings for
those receiving food.Organizers don’t want
the distribution centers
themselves to be a vector for
transmitting the corona-
virus, which is why they are
concerned about how peo-
ple line up to receive food.
Each family will be asked to
stand about 6 feet apart as
they await their turn.
No advance sign-up is re-
quired, so the district does
not know how many people
will show up for meals. Offi-
cials say that for now, they
will have 400,000 meals avail-
able per day.
L.A. schools Supt. Austin
Beutner said no one would
be turned away, whether or
not they have a connection
to the school system.
As for learning, teachers
in most closed schools are
trying to continue instruc-
tion through online course-
work and extended home-
work assignments. L.A. Uni-
fied also has partnered with
PBS SoCal to provide edu-
cational programming.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric
Garcetti, who has issued his
own unprecedented orders,
closing down bars, gyms and
dining in restaurants, said
on Tuesday that the gover-
nor’s warning on school clo-
sures came as no surprise.
He sympathizes with the
difficulties many families are
facing, and he himself has
suddenly become a science
and social science teacher at
home for his daughter.
The city is looking into
best practices around the
country, and up and down
California, to see what child-
care could be provided.
Broadband access and the
ability to continue learning
are all concerns, he said, but
health considerations must
remain paramount.
“The most loving thing
you can do for your child is to
make sure that they don’t
get hit by COVID-19,” he said,
“that they don’t spread it to
your loved ones.”LAUSDSupt. Austin Beutner tours a food distribution site at John Liechty Middle School in downtown L.A. o
Tuesday. The district is set to open 60 sites Wednesday to give out 400,000 meals to students and parents.
Gabriella Angotti-JonesLos Angeles TimesSchool closures likely to linger
[Schools, from B1]