His Math Text Was the Standard, His Touch in Class Exceptional

The results of his teaching were extraordinary.

The national average score on the Advanced Placement calculus exam is 3.01 on a 5-point scale. Over the past five years, Leithold's students scored an average of 4.6.

Although Malibu High's calculus program is small, every student who took the Advanced Placement class also took the exam. No one who wanted to take the class was barred because of ability.

"If every student took the exam and the average was 4.6, that is astounding ... off the charts," the College Board's Packer said.

"He had such a deep understanding of the content," Malibu High Principal Mark Kelly said, explaining Leithold's success. "He understood how he could give students a lens onto the subject matter and open it up. He used humor and stories that were motivating to kids, that hooked them into the subject."

Like Escalante, Leithold often livened up lessons with a bit of theatrics.

To introduce one of the great debates in calculus -- whether the system was invented by 18th-century English theorist Sir Isaac Newton or German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz -- Leithold relied on cookies. He would bring in two plates of cookies, Fig Newtons on one and a brand called Leibnitz on the other. Then he would invite students to take their pick.

The biggest day of the year, next to the exam, was when Leithold taught the fundamental theorem, a central idea of calculus that says that the sum of infinitesimal changes in a quantity over time equals the net change in quantity.

Usually a casual dresser, he would wear a jacket to class. After a proper buildup, he removed the coat to reveal a T-shirt emblazoned with, what else, the famous theorem.

Then came the actual lesson.

"He had an amazing way of explaining things so that everything was really clear," Mesher said.

On his last day in class, it was business as usual. He arrived about 11:30 a.m. and prepared for his AP students. In addition to the usual heavy load of homework the night before, he had handed out a thick packet of 50 multiple-choice questions as practice for the exam just days away. The hour went by quickly as he called one student after another to the board to prove or disprove the solutions offered.

He left campus a little later than usual, about 3 p.m. He might have headed directly home to tend to his movie-poster business, an outgrowth of the other great passion in his life. He ran a vintage movie house in Scottsdale, Ariz., in the 1950s that director Steven Spielberg frequented as a child. Over the years, he accumulated an extensive collection of vintage posters that he sold over the Internet.

When he missed class the next day, his colleagues and students knew something was wrong.

That Sunday, after the news of his death spread, his students gathered at school to mourn and reminisce. Then they headed to his classroom to study.

"I was really sad not to have him there. He was invincible to us," said senior Beau Campbell, 17, who described his class as the most demanding of her high school career.

"One thing I have realized was how much he lived life to the fullest," Campbell said. "It helps to know he died doing what he loved."

Leithold is survived by two grandchildren and a brother, Arthur, of San Francisco.

A memorial service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Forest Lawn in Glendale. His students have established a scholarship fund in his honor. Donations may be sent to the Malibu High Scholarship Fund for the Louis Leithold Scholarship, c/o Sunny Halpern, 30215 Morningview Drive, Malibu CA 90265.