Wilfred D. “Bill” Coggins, M.S.W. '55

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Wilfred D. “Bill” Coggins, M.S.W. '55, winner of the 2020 UCLA Alumni Community Service Award, has passed away at age 98.

Coggins’ enduring legacy is the Kaiser Permanente Watts Counseling and Learning Center, where he served as executive director until his retirement in 1998. The Center, which Kaiser Permanente calls “the jewel in its crown,” helps families achieve academic and personal success for free or at minimal cost, whether or not they are Kaiser Permanente members.

Coggins devoted himself to helping others, serving as a social work technician in the army, then as a social investigator for the New York City Department of Welfare. In 1955, Coggins earned his master of social welfare degree from UCLA, then worked as a psychiatric social worker for several organizations, among them the Veterans Administration and the Suicide Prevention Center.

A remembrance posted on the Kaiser Permanente website spoke of the personal qualities of the man who had impacted the organization and his community so positively.

"Coggins, always humble, recognized others from inside and outside the organization who helped make the center a reality, even though he was seen as the pioneer. His vision, intelligence, compassion, drive, and deep connection with people and the community were indispensable. He was witty and wise, a Renaissance man. Coggins’ commitment to children and families was deep. He was a friend, mentor, teacher, confidante, and inspiration to so many."

The tribute continued, "In 2024, at the grand opening of the new center and new Watts Medical Offices, Coggins received the George Halvorson Community Health Leadership Award. It was a fitting tribute because that campus would not have existed without his dedication and ardor for meeting the needs of the community served by the center.

"Perhaps an even more special day came on Veterans Day in 2024 at the Watts Friends and Family Day when past and present employees and clients of the center, and their families, gathered at the new Watts campus. Bill Coggins was known to say to client families, “Your best is yet to come.” Friends and family reunited with Coggins on that occasion to celebrate how far we’ve come.

Coggins’ daughter, Valerie Owens-Wright, survives him along with his stepchildren and grandchildren. His wife, June Coggins, passed before him in early February 2025."