Frances Feldman
By Marilyn Flynn
Shortly after she renewed her driver's license for another five years, Frances Lomas Feldman died on Sept. 30 at the age of 95. Elegant, coiffed, intellectually engaged and living independently until her death, she defied all traditional stereotypes of aging. She shaped our understanding of social-welfare history in California and defined the new field of occupational social welfare in the West. For more than 50 years, she concentrated on the study of the social and psychological meaning of work and life.
A faculty member at the School of Social Work at the University of Southern California for 36 years, she remained as active at the end of her career as she was at the beginning. Frances wrote 10 books on social welfare and human services, and the breadth of her influence was exceptional.
Frances helped form both the first social-work concentration in industrial social work in the West and the Consumer Credit Counselors--a national network of 350 counseling services. Her studies of workplace behavior influenced employee-assistance programs and state laws on employer discrimination. Ultimately, she evaluated everything through the lens of history. Surely she would have judged her own life as a success.
Flynn is the dean of the USC School of Social Work