Editor's note: Within two days this summer, the campus lost two staff members whose impact will be long-lasting and whose friendship will be dearly missed.

Lynn Kidder, campus speech writer and journalist, died July 16 after a two-year battle with breast cancer. She was 46.

In 1988, she left daily journalism to join the campus news staff as a writer for Berkeleyan. Her quick wit and insightful writing soon made her a popular personality across campus and a dynamic and insightful fixture on the Public Affairs staff.

When Chang-Lin Tien became chancellor in 1990, she interned as his part-time speech writer, then was promoted to a full-time position. She soon found herself assisting Tien with his seemingly endless public presentations that were spawned by the fiscal crisis and political controversies that beset the UC system in recent years.

"Lynn was an extremely talented writer," said Chancellor Tien. "I was very fortunate to have her working for me. The campus will sorely miss her."

As a former reporter for the Oakland Tribune and the Contra Costa Times, Kidder wrote extensively on the issues affecting public schools, covering both the promise and the plight of education in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Her stories in the classroom captured the human drama that is learning. Her coverage of the school boards focused on the backroom politicking, revealing stories that gained her staunch supporters as well as harsh critics.

Kidder graduated with an BA in political science from Berkeley in 1972. As a political activist of the period, she refrained from pursuing a typical career path.

In 1974, she went to work as administrative assistant for the nascent Center for Independent Living. This center was the first in the country to challenge the notion that people with disabilities need to live with their families or in nursing homes. It spawned a movement that led to establishment of over 300 such centers nationally.

"Lynn was the behind-the-scenes, brilliant person who strategized and helped develop programs at CIL but never took credit for them," said Kitty Cone of the Disabilities Rights Education and Defense Fund.

Kidder received her MA from Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism in 1980. She worked initially for the Merced Sun Star and the Antioch Daily Ledger.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Kidder was the youngest of three sisters. She is survived by her husband, Kyle Heger of Richmond, her five-year-old son, Luis Kidder-Heger, her mother, Lois Kidder of Woodland Hills, and sisters Gail Dodson of Nipomo, Calif., and Kay Kidder of Berkeley.

A memorial service was held July 19, at Alumni House. Donations may be made to the Bay Area Adoption Services, 465 Fairchild Dr., Suite 215, Mountain View, CA 94043.

Priscilla Scotlan, director of Career and Graduate School Services, died July 17 after a long illness. A campus memorial service will be held Friday, Sept. 27, at 4 p.m. in Alumni House.

Scotlan's long and distinguished career at Berkeley began in 1971 when she served as a placement adviser in the Office of Educational Career Services. Concurrently, she taught and served as dean of students in the University Demonstration Secondary Summer School. She assumed increasingly broader areas of responsibility and was named director of the Career Planning and Placement Center in 1990. When the center merged with Pre-professional Pre-graduate Advising in 1993, she became director of the current Career and Graduate School Services.

Scotlan served as president of the Association for School, College and University Staffing and the California Educational Placement Association. In 1979-80 she was the president of the Bay Area School Personnel Association and in January 1996 was co-chair of the Western Association of Colleges and Employers annual conference.

Born and raised in Oakland, Scotlan earned her BA at the University of San Francisco in sociology and a secondary teaching credential at Berkeley. While an undergraduate, she was a counselor in University of San Francisco's Upward Bound Program and was a dormitory resident assistant. She served as field director for Project Alliance, a Title IX Project. She taught at Oakland Technical High School and Hoover Junior High School before joining the campus.

Her many community activities included serving as a trustee for the University of San Francisco and on the boards of directors of Catholic Charities USA, St. Elizabeth's High School, Holy Names High School, the Oakland Alliance and the University YWCA. She was president of the Parish Council of Sacred Heart Church in Oakland and a member of the Black Catholic Caucus. She was president of Phi Delta Kappa and was active in the University of San Francisco Alumni Association. She was also a member of the Black Staff and Faculty Organization on campus and served on the Oakland Diocesan Pastoral Council from 1985-88. Scotlan's contributions to the campus and the larger community were recognized by many awards, including the Phi Delta Kappa award for distinguished service to the campus.

In 1987 Scotlan was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the Consortium of Hope for Oakland Inner-city Catholic Education, in 1991 the Highland Year Round School Image Achievement Award and the ASCUS Distinguished Service Award, and in 1990 the Certificate for Excellence in Management by the Berkeley Staff Assembly.

She is survived by her sisters, Barbara, Joyce, Laura and Cathey and her brother, Robert. She was beloved by and will be sorely missed by friends and colleagues throughout the campus, Bay Area and the educational communities.

Contributions in her memory can be made to the Sacred Heart Church Building Fund, 4025 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland, CA 94609 or the Catholic Charities of the East Bay, 433 Jefferson St., Oakland, CA 94607.