Phillip L. Williams, long-time chairman of the Board of Visitors for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, passed away on November 18, 2012, at age 90. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in business from Harvard. He was assigned to a U.S. Naval destroyer during World War II and also served in the Korean War. After 11 years at Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corp., Mr. Williams joined Times Mirror Co. as vice president in 1969 and then held several senior executive posts before becoming vice chairman of its board in 1986. He retired from the company in 1993. Mr. Williams had numerous UCLA, community and philanthropic affiliations, including being a founder and director of the Children's Council of Los Angeles County and director of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Williams' wife, Margaret Jane Williams, died in 2007. He is survived by daughters Margaret and Diane, sons Fred and Jim, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Barbara Kort, supporter of breast-cancer research at UCLA and the Barbara Kort Women's Imaging Center at UCLA Health - Santa Monica Medical Center, passed away at age 68 on October 20, 2012. Mrs. Kort was born in Canton, China, and grew up in Hong Kong. Together, she and her late husband, Fred Kort, built Imperial Toy Corporation. Their philanthropy included establishment of a program at Israel's Bar-Ilan University to create educational ties with China and funding for the Language Studies Building. They were founders of the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and Mrs. Kort was active in the Museum of the Holocaust in Los Angeles. She was involved with the Tel Aviv Foundation and the Jewish Federation and supported the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. Mrs. Kort is survived by her daughter, Susie Kort-Wasserman, granddaughter Liana, two brothers, two sisters, a sister-in-law and 12 nieces and nephews.
