Editors: A 1985 file photograph is available by e-mail from Pat Bailey at pjbailey@ucdavis.edu. Leon H. Mayhew, a distinguished sociologist and former dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Davis, died Sunday after a 12-year battle with a debilitating lung disease. He was 64. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, located at the corner of East Eighth Street and Elmwood Drive in Davis. A campus memorial service at UC Davis is pending. "Leon Mayhew was a UC Davis treasure," said Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. "During his years as dean, he had a startlingly deep understanding of the great breadth of disciplines in our College of Letters and Science. And up through his last days, he remained a remarkable scholar. However, what will be in my heart forever is the knowledge that so many of us, certainly I, never had a wiser counselor and adviser. He was, in this way, one of the best friends I ever had." Born May 15, 1935, in Ogden, Utah, Mayhew moved with his family two years later to Berkeley, Calif. There he graduated from Berkeley High School and met Janet Ellsworth, who would later become his wife. In 1956, he received a bachelor's degree in sociology from UC Berkeley and shortly thereafter was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy. The Mayhews were married in 1956 and moved to Hawaii for a two-year tour of duty. They then moved to Cambridge, Mass., where Leon attended Harvard Graduate School, receiving his master's and doctor's degrees in social relations in 1960 and 1964, respectively. Professor Mayhew served from 1962-68 on the sociology faculty at the University of Michigan. His first book, "Law and Equal Opportunity: A Study of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination," was published in 1968, reflecting his intense personal concern for civil rights. His later books included "Society: Institutions and Activities" in 1971, "Talcott Parsons: On Institutions and Social Evolution" in 1982 and "The New Public" in 1997. His writings have helped shape modern concepts of social theory and remain today as part of the required reading for students of sociology. He taught as a visiting associate professor at the UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Law and Society from 1968-69 and came to UC Davis in 1969 as chair of the sociology department. In 1975, he was appointed vice chancellor for academic affairs, a post he held for seven years. In 1985, he was named dean of the UC Davis College of Letters and Science. He held that position for four years until he was stricken with a serious viral pneumonia. He relinquished his duties as dean in 1989. Despite major health challenges, he continued to serve the university for four more years as a senior advisor to the chancellor. During that time he continued his scholarly writings, including a paper titled "Money, Persuasion and American Values," which was published in November in the journal Media, Culture & Society. "Leon was both the sociologist and administrator," recalled friend and colleague John Malcolm, a retired UC Davis philosophy professor. "He had an informed appreciation of all the departments he administered. He took the time to find out not only about the subject matter of those departments but also the interests of various scholars." Professor Mayhew also had a great breadth of interests that reached beyond his own scholarly expertise to music and Chinese and Japanese poetry, Malcolm said. He also was an avid reader, an active member of his church and a student of the Old and New Testaments, added Janet Mayhew. During the past few years, despite declining health, he found great solace and happiness, his family says, in writing poetry and his memoirs and enjoyed the company of his family and many friends. Family members note that his strength of character and optimistic outlook were a source of inspiration and that his intellect, spiritual insights and compassion touched many lives in the Davis community. He is survived by his wife, Janet, of Davis and children, Deborah Mayhew of Paramus, N.J.; Jonathan Mayhew of St. Louis, Mo.; and Stewart Mayhew of Athens, Ga. He also leaves three siblings, Lenore Laycock of Oberlin, Ohio; Wayne E. Mayhew Jr. of El Granada, Calif.; and Martha Leigh Haynes of Davis. He is survived by six grandchildren: Janet and James Quiles; Julia Tsuchiya-Mayhew; and Peter, Christina and Sarah Mayhew. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be sent to the Leon Mayhew Memorial Fund, payable to the UC Davis Foundation, care of the College of Letters and Science Dean's Office, University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA, 95616.