PHYLLIS ANN SPITZER, 72, of La Quinta, died in Los Angeles on March 6, 2008 following a valiant and passionate fight with cancer.  She passed away peacefully and with her dignity with her family constantly at her side during her final days.  Phyllis graduated from Montebello High School in 1953.  She and her husband, Leonard Spitzer were married in 1954 and celebrated 53 years of marriage.  Together, they raised two children, Susan Spitzer, attorney at law, and State Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, also an attorney.  Always putting her family first, she spent 33 years attaining her education having attended East Los Angeles College from 1953 to 1971, CSU Fullerton from 1981 to 1984 and Azusa Pacific University from 1984 to 1986 where she earned her Masters Degree in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling at age 50.   Earning her Marriage, Family and Therapist State License, she entered private practice.  From 1989 to 2004, she was a Teacher, Counselor and Facilitator at Montebello Unified School District working with pregnant minors and young parents on issues of domestic violence, literacy, age appropriate behavior and self-esteem.

She also received her Ryan Designated Subject credential from UCLA Extension which led her to teach Parent Education in Ford Park Adult School's Family Literacy Program, a program she helped established through grant funding.  She also taught in the Adult School Division mentoring older adults with their life changes and losses.  She gives full credit for raising a daughter who became the first female student body president at Schurr High School in Montebello and a son who served three terms in the State Legislature to her own attendance in parent and literacy courses.

Phyllis Ann is survived by her husband Leonard; mother-in-law Florence Spitzer; daughter, Susan Bovitz Spitzer and her husband Scott; son, Todd Spitzer and his wife Jamie; her grandchildren Justin and Lauren; brothers Larry Kirschenbaum and his wife Myra and Norman Kirschenbaum and his wife Theola; loving nieces and nephews and cousins.  She was preceded in death by her father and mother, Irving and Mollie Kirschenbaum and father-in-law Karl Spitzer.