City Finance Director Susan Temple, 42, Dies

Funeral services will be today for the woman largely responsible for withdrawing most of the city’s money from Orange County’s investment pool before the 1994 bankruptcy.

Susan Temple, 42, died Thursday after a bout with viral encephalitis and meningitis, which cause brain swelling. She is survived by her husband, Larry, 48, and 4-year-old son, Andy.

She was hired as the city’s finance director in 1984 following her tenure in the same position in Buena Park.

City Manager Allan L. Roeder said Temple’s skills helped save at least $16.5 million of the $19 million the city invested in the ill-fated county pool.

“She was still busy withdrawing funds up until the last couple of weeks before the bankruptcy,” Roeder said. “She would look at that and say, ‘But I didn’t get the last $2.5 million,’ instead of saying, ‘I got the $16.5 [million] out.’ ”

Temple also grappled with funding services during the recession and at a time when the state was increasing its take from cities to balance its budget.

She accomplished quite a bit at a relatively young age, Roeder noted, becoming a city finance director--often a career goal for municipal accountants--in her late 20s.

Although finance directors rarely meet with the public they represent, Temple made contact with residents through her department’s annual budgets. She took those typically confusing documents and made them increasingly clear to residents.

“The average citizen could come in, pick it up and not only read it but understand it,” Roeder said.

Services are at 11 a.m. today at the Church of Religious Science, 907 Knob Hill Ave., Redondo Beach. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Help for Brain Injured Children, 981 N. Euclid St., La Habra, CA 90631.