Diane Whitcomb, administrative assistant to President Peter Stanley since May of this year and secretary to the president the previous eight years, passed away November 4. She was 44 years old.

Ms. Whitcomb became ill with flu-like symptoms at the end of June and was hospitalized in July with a pulmonary infection that was never successfully diagnosed. She was transferred to Barlow Respiratory Hospital and Research Center in Los Angeles, where she had been steadily recovering until she contracted a serious infection, declined rapidly, and died on Thursday evening.

Ms. Whitcomb is survived by her husband, Charles Whitcomb, and their two children.

Ms. Whitcomb was known for her kind and gentle disposition; she was a person with whom trustees, faculty, staff, and students enjoyed working, according to members of the president’s staff. She was a facilitator and a collaborator in a position that requires both to be effective.

Between working at Pomona and receiving a bachelor of arts degree in history from UCLA in 1977, Ms. Whitcomb worked briefly at UCLA, and then served for a decade as program assistant to the Dean of the School of Nursing at Azuza Pacific University, followed by one year as secretary to the Executive Vice President, also as APU.

In addition to her work at Pomona and devotion to her family, Diane Whitcomb was an ardent historian, publishing This I Remember — Reminiscences of Old-Timers of Glendora, California, written by Helen Bettin in 1900.

At Pomona, she embraced the institution and became a regular contributor to Pomona College Magazine, writing several articles on college history, the influence of the citrus industry on the Pomona Valley, and, most recently, a history of the President’s House.

She also served for several years on the governing board of the Faculty House of the Claremont Colleges.

With her husband, she provided research for, wrote, edited, and produced a number of videos on subjects ranging from local history to railroads.