Noted UCLA Sociologist Suzanne Bianchi Dies

Suzanne M. Bianchi, a UCLA sociologist who helped alter perceptions of working mothers during three decades investigating changes in American family life, died Nov. 4 at her home in Santa Monica. She was 61. The cause was pancreatic cancer, said her daughter Jennifer Browning. An expert on gender, work and families, Bianchi was best known for her research examining the amount of time mothers spent with their children. Most surprising was the finding she reported in 2000 that despite a dramatic influx of women into the workforce, the amount of time spent with children was relatively unchanged... She began her career as a demographer for the U.S. Census Bureau, where she remained until 1994, when she joined the faculty at the University of Maryland. She eventually chaired the university's sociology department and directed the Maryland Population Research Center. In 2009 she moved to UCLA, where she was Dorothy L. Meier Chair in Social Equities...

Full obituary at www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-suzanne-bianchi-20131118,0,785351.story