Margery Morris

Morris, Margery Ruth May 9, 1930 - April 9, 2012 Margery Ruth Morris died April 9 at her Los Angeles home after a four-year struggle with lung cancer. Margie (as she was known by all her friends) was born May 9, 1930, in Boston, the second child of Eva and Harry Finn. She attended Simmons College, graduating with a degree in library science in 1951. Shortly after graduation, she married James Maslon. The couple moved to a farm in Mankato, Minn., where they lived for 20 years. During this time, Margie dedicated herself to raising her four children while pursuing her lifelong interest in the arts. She co-founded and then served as director of the Mankato Fine Arts Program, organizing an annual Art in the Park event that gained national attention. The family relocated to Los Angeles in the late 1960s. After her divorce, Margie returned to school, first earning a master's degree from California State University, Northridge, in 1975 and then certification as a Marriage and Family Counselor from the State of California. From 1976 to 1978, she was senior counselor for the Los Angeles Chabad Drug Rehabilitation Program. She then opened a private practice, returned for further schooling and received her doctorate in Clinical Child Psychology in 1987 from the Graduate Center for Child Development and Psychotherapy, an institution affiliated with the Los Angeles and Southern California Psychoanalytic Institutes. In June 1980, she married Herbert Morris, a professor of philosophy and law at UCLA. Despite maintaining a full-time private psychotherapeutic practice, Margie remained readily available to her children and grandchildren, husband and many friends. She was a gracious hostess, entertaining UCLA faculty and visiting scholars when her husband served as dean of humanities at UCLA. Family, friends and UCLA colleagues often gathered for dinners and receptions in her lovely garden where she and Herb had been married. From her youth Margie enjoyed foreign travel and this attraction to distant lands continued until the onset of her illness. Among her most memorable trips were ones to Machu Pichu, Paris, Venice and Umbria as well as travels to England and Scotland with several of her grandchildren. Her interests were diverse and her involvements deep whether it was architecture, opera, theatre or the natural world. But her greatest passion was the visual arts. She was widely read in their history, and a visit to art museums and art galleries topped her list of favorite things to do. She collected tastefully and widely - paintings, sculpture, etchings, trompe l'oeil, botanical drawings, ceramics, rugs and textiles. A woman of boundless creativity and energy, Margie organized a quilters' group whose work now hangs in a UCLA medical building. She also found a unique expression by turning ordinary, cast-off chairs from second-hand furniture stores into delightful works of art. She came up with the idea of a Brentwood "Chairs on Parade" auction event to help raise funds to preserve the coral trees along San Vicente Boulevard. She was thoroughly devoted to her family and friends, all of whom marveled at her warmth, empathy, kindness, wisdom, charm, good nature and enduring love of life. She faced the last years of her life with inspiring courage, grace and even humor. Throughout her final illness, she conveyed her brightness of spirit and beauty of soul. She is survived by her husband, Herb; brother, Richard; children, Sally, Hilary, Jimmy and Marny; grandchildren, Naomi, Kamille (husband, Ron Currie), Lily, Zoe and Henry; stepsons, Jacob and Benjamin (wife, Julie Delman Morris); and stepgrandaughter, Rachael. Friends wishing to make a donation in Margie's memory might consider one of the charitable organizations she especially favored: L.A. Goal, Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Planned Parenthood, Oxfam, Tree People and Brentwood Green. An event celebrating her life will be held in early June at the UCLA Faculty Center. The event is by invitation only.