Elizabeth Marmorston Horowitz, founding director of the USC Law School paralegal program and a Juvenile Court mediator, died July 21 of cancer. She was 72.
Horowitz, legendary for her compassion, generosity and concern for the underprivileged, found her true calling as a mediator in the Juvenile Court, conducting hearings in often heart-rending abuse and neglect cases. The paralegal program she founded at USC in 1968 was the first in the country to be housed in a major law school.
She was associated with legal education and the intersection between law and social change throughout her career and served as a professor at the UCLA School of Social Welfare and clinical professor of law at USC.
She was born in New York on Aug. 13, 1929 to Dr. Jessie Marmorston and Julius Gottesman. Horowitz moved to Los Angeles in 1943. Soon after she entered Stanford University where she received her bachelor’s degree in history. In l952, she married Harold Horowitz, professor of law and vice chancellor at UCLA, who died in 2000. In 1954, she received her JD from USC. In 1968, Horowitz was awarded a master’s of social work in social welfare from UCLA.
She devoted her time and talents to numerous pro bono legal and social service organizations, including Bet Tzedek, The Jewish Federation, the Western Center on Law and Poverty, the Center for Law in the Public Interest and various committees of the Los Angeles Country bar association and the American Bar Association.
She is survived by her son, Adam; daughter, Lisa (Jeffrey) Horowitz Schwartz; three grandchildren; and sisters, Norma Pisar, Lailee Bakhtiar and Ellen Wexler.
Donations can be made in the name of Elizabeth Horowitz to Bet Tzedek, 145 S. Fairfax Ave. Suite No. 200, Los Angeles, CA 90036. — Adam Horowitz
