Robert E. “Bob” Tranquada ’51, former chair of the Pomona College Board of Trustees and former dean of the medical school at USC, passed away Sunday, December 4, at Mt. San Antonio Gardens in Pomona. He was 92.
A diabetes researcher turned public health advocate, Tranquada was instrumental in increasing access to healthcare for underserved communities across Los Angeles County. He was a founding board member and chair of L.A. Care, today the country's largest publicly operated health plan.
The son of two Pomona alumni and father and grandfather of others, Tranquada was a constant friend of the College. As a Commencement speaker and recipient of an honorary doctorate in 2007, he said, “I have been couched in the arms of Pomona College for a long time. It would be impossible to return more than a fraction of that I have received.” Awarded an Alumni Scholarship as a student, he returned much, both in service and financial support. The student health center that serves The Claremont Colleges bears his name as the Robert E. Tranquada Student Services Center.
His path to medicine began early. Hospitalized with a broken leg at age 5, he was so impressed with the doctors who treated him he decided to become a physician himself. After graduating from Pomona College, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, he attended the Stanford University School of Medicine and joined the faculty of the USC medical school in 1959. As a diabetes specialist, he treated actor Spencer Tracy and served as an expert witness in the trial of serial killer William Archerd, the first person in the United States to be convicted of using insulin as a murder weapon.
Tranquada's career took a dramatic turn in 1965, when the California Army National Guard medical battalion he commanded was activated during the Watts Uprising to treat casualties of the violent confrontations between L.A. police and residents. Afterward, he was asked by then-USC Medical School Dean Roger Egeberg to head a new department of community and preventative medicine and organize a public health clinic in Watts. He was one of the founders and the first director of the South Central Multipurpose Health Services Center in 1965 (now the Watts Healthcare Corporation), one of the country's first community health centers.
“The trials and tribulations of getting the clinic going were a profound personal experience,” Tranquada said in a 1979 interview with Stanford MD. “I thought the Black community would be grateful for the commitment of an institution such as USC, and someone like myself. Well, they weren't. I had my whole perspective rearranged and gained considerable humility.”
His experience in working to launch the health clinic, which opened its doors in 1967, led to a 40-year career in public health. Two years later, as associate dean of the medical school, he was appointed medical director of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. After five years as medical director, he became regional director of the Central Health Services Region of the L.A. County Department of Health Services.
Tranquada worked briefly as an administrator at UCLA’s medical school before being named chancellor-dean of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979. In 1986 he was recruited to become dean of what is now the Keck School of Medicine at USC with a mandate to develop a new private teaching hospital, today’s Keck Hospital of USC. It was while serving as dean that he was appointed to the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, better known as the Christopher Commission, formed in the wake of the 1991 Rodney King beating. He also headed the Los Angeles County Taskforce on Access to Healthcare in the wake of the 1992 civil unrest, which led to the creation of Community Health Councils, the nonprofit organization that works to promote health and wellness in under-resourced communities.
After stepping down as USC dean in 1991, he held an endowed chair in health policy before becoming professor emeritus of medicine and public policy upon his retirement in 1997. During his long and distinguished career, he was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In addition to his service on the Pomona College Board of Trustees beginning in 1969 and assuming the role of chair in 1991, Tranquada was chair of the Claremont University Consortium board from 2000 to 2006. He served on the boards of the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Good Hope Medical Foundation, the Huntington Medical Research Institutes and the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences, among others. He also was an effective advocate for increasing the number of women and people of color in medicine, serving as a longtime member of the board of New York-based National Medical Fellowships, a member of the founding board of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and a member of the board of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital.
Born in Los Angeles, Tranquada was the son of Ernest Tranquada ’27 and Katharine (Jacobus) Tranquada '29. He married Janet Martin Tranquada ’51 after meeting at Pomona. In addition to his wife of 71 years, he is survived by children John ’77 (Lisa Sackett Tranquada ’77), Jim (Kristin) and Kate; grandchildren Matt ’08, Jessica and Alex Tranquada; and his sister, Carolyn Prestwich ’54.
A memorial service to celebrate Bob’s long and successful life will be held on Saturday, January 28 at 1 p.m. in Bridges Hall of Music “Little Bridges” 150 E. Fourth St., Claremont, CA. Masks requested to be worn. Reception following at Bridges Auditorium Lobby, “Big Bridges”