Extension instructor's death is deeply felt
By Jennifer K. Morita
Daily Bruin Staff
UCLA Extension instructor and Los Angeles psychologist Carl Faber died last week at a Santa Monica hospital of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
"He had a lot of different facets to him," said companion Kathryn Ballsun. "He was a teacher of undergraduate students at UCLA; he taught Extension. He was a lecturer, writer and thinker, poet and philosopher. He was also an extremely good psychologist."
Faber, who taught Extension courses in psychology, died on Jan. 22 at the age of 60.
Gayle Friedman, a volunteer in the Advisory Service for the Extension program, remembered taking one of Faber's courses about 30 years ago.
"I have just very vague recollections from then," Friedman said. "But I remember him as a very exciting teacher. Some of his ideas were a little offbeat, but I think that's why he fascinated people. He was very animated when he spoke and I think he held the interest of his students.
"He was very young when he was teaching here," Friedman added.
According to Psychology Program Representative Linda Lewensohn, Faber left the Extension program several years ago but frequently returned to teach one or two classes. Faber was scheduled to teach another class at the time of his death.
"I knew him a long time ago," Lewensohn said. "Most of the people who worked with him are no longer here."
Faber taught at both UCLA and the Extension Program in the late 1960s and early '70s, according to Barry Bortnick, UCLA Extension's humanities program director. In July, Faber taught a special seminar titled "Edges: On the Border of the Human Experience."
Bortnick explained that some of Faber's old students from the '60s and '70s recognized his name in the Extension catalogue and came back to take more classes he taught.
"He was a very popular instructor," Bortnick said. "He attracted audiences of several hundreds of people and developed his own following so that many people came back to see him again.
"He was noted as a very dynamic and involved lecturer and he radiated a lot of concern about issues of our time and, because of that, he was able to draw people and really address concerns and serious kinds of issues from a psychological perspective," he continued.
Bortnick and Lewensohn added that at the time of Faber's death they had been planning a future course for Faber to teach.
"We had him scheduled for another class in January while we were simultaneously talking about another course," Bortnick said. "It was great to have him back. He was one of those people that, judging from his popularity, provided not only something thoughtful for our audiences but some real experience. People felt touched in an important way."
Throughout his career, which included publishing books on relationships and on poetry, Faber was a dedicated professional, according to Ballsun.
"He was passionate about his work," Ballsun said. "I think that what he would want would be for his work to be studied and appreciated. I think he'd want his message of love and understanding to be talked about and to be incorporated into as many lives as possible."
Faber is survived by daughter Jollee, sons Eric, Seth and Carl, and two granddaughters.Comments to webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu