Frances Lomas Feldman, a USC professor and social work pioneer who conducted a groundbreaking study in the 1970s that showed cancer patients faced discrimination in the workplace, has died. She was 95.
Feldman died at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena on Tuesday, a week after having a stroke, USC announced.
In 1976, she began a multiyear study to investigate the work experiences of people treated for cancer. Her research provided the first systematic evidence that employers and co-workers often imposed harsh, even illegal conditions on cancer survivors, The Times reported in 1985.
Not long after beginning her research, Feldman called the results "disheartening."
The study of more than 200 Southern California cancer survivors found that more than 50% of white-collar workers and 84% of blue-collar workers faced discrimination when they returned to work. The affronts included demotions, denial of promotions and withdrawal of health insurance coverage.
But the American Cancer Society, which funded the study, used her findings to call attention to the problem.
Researchers from around the world continue to seek out Feldman's research, which was "an early look at a continuing problem," according to USC.
Several states also modified fair employment legislation because of the study, the National Assn. of Social Workers said on its website.
For more than 50 years, Feldman concentrated on the study of the social and psychological meanings of work and life. Her original research on the effect of financial stress on families led her to co-found a national network of nonprofit credit counseling services that continues to operate.
After joining USC as a professor of social work in 1954, Feldman was instrumental in establishing the first curriculum in the West devoted to industrial social work, which involves helping people cope in the workplace.
At USC, she also was a key founder of the California Social Welfare Archives, a volunteer organization that preserves the state's social work history.
"She almost single-handedly was responsible for the discovery and preservation of social welfare history in Southern California," Marilyn Flynn, dean of the USC School of Social Work, said in a statement.
Among the 10 books Feldman wrote was "Human Services in the City of Angels: 1850-2000" (2004). Her research showed that Los Angeles was a pioneer in social services, reimbursing citizens for taking care of sick strangers as early as 1850 and establishing city-run day-care centers in 1918.
