In Tearful Farewell, Weintraub Retires After 14 Years on Board Education: She was the longest-serving member of the L.A. school panel. Ceremony recalls the controversies, quirks and achievements of her career.: [Home Edition]

Roberta Weintraub, the longest-serving member of the Los Angeles Board of Education, was honored Monday in an emotional retirement ceremony celebrating the controversies and quirks of her 14-year career.

From the strident anti-busing campaign that won her election in 1979 to her penchant for fitness and big, dangling earrings, Weintraub was honored as a passionate force for whatever cause she embraced, and as a woman whose ever-changing image and interests reflected the city around her.

"No other elected official has shown so much growth over time and has been so impossible to pigeonhole," board member Mark Slavkin said of Weintraub, who is leaving to campaign for the breakup of the Los Angeles Unified School District. She also said she may pursue a partisan political career.

Long identified as a conservative voice for the San Fernando Valley, Weintraub, 57, was a brassy doctor's wife when she joined the school board and is still remembered for...