Susan Gerski, the longest-serving employee at the UCLA School of Dentistry, died Jan. 5. She was 76.

The UCLA School of Dentistry hired Gerski in 1968 – less than four years into its six-decade existence. She was 19, a fresh graduate from Los Angeles City College with a degree in dental assisting, and already set on a life in medicine, her sister Missy Gerski said. Susan spent 56 years with the School of Dentistry, mostly as a registered dental assistant.

“She was just not a co-worker,” said Elizabeth Perez, a patient coordinator for the UCLA Orthodontics Clinic. “She was family.”

Susan met Jorge Maza, a former lab technician, at the school’s clinic in 1972. They married in 1982.

Maza said Susan was incredibly committed to her work at the School of Dentistry.

When Susan became pregnant with her daughter Elisabeth, she and Maza agreed she would spend the first six months on maternity leave, Maza said.

“She went back to work before Elisabeth came home from the hospital,” he said.

He added that Susan’s family never resented her dedication to UCLA, as it was a part of who she was.

She left for work at 7:30 a.m. every morning and rarely took time off, Missy said.

Beginning in the oral diagnostics clinic as a dental assistant trainee, Susan became acquainted with many of the school’s positions and clinics during her career, including urgent care, oral medicine, radiology and screening, said Fariba Younai, who chairs the dental school’s division of diagnostic and surgical sciences.

Susan earned her license to become a registered dental assistant in 1999. As an RDA for the screening clinic, she would answer critical patient questions and handle chairside tasks, said Dianne Fuller, the dental school general clinic’s patient services supervisor and Susan’s superior.

“She was so knowledgeable. She was our go-to person. If we needed to know something, we’d pick up the phone and call her,” said Yvonne Landeros, the billing office supervisor for the School of Dentistry’s general clinic.

Landeros said that Susan was a teacher and mentor for her colleagues at the School of Dentistry. Fuller said that Susan was like the dental school’s mother.

Younai said Susan ensured patients received proper and efficient care while also cutting down on their medical costs. She added that health care bureaucracy causes many people to fall through the cracks, but Susan was a guardrail and advocate.

“She was a great example of the old-school work ethic,” Fuller said. “Not saying, ‘Oh, that’s not part of my job,’ but being part of the solution.”

Many dentistry students sought her out to be their dental assistant while sitting for their board examinations, Missy said. She added that despite the test being crucial in the career trajectories of dental students – and having a high going rate – Susan refused to be paid for assisting them.

Susan’s memory was extraordinary – to the faux annoyance of her friends, Maza said. He added that she remembered decades-old acquaintances and their children, anatomy, and the answers on “Jeopardy.”

Fuller said Susan knew everybody in the school and everybody knew Susan. She stayed in touch with graduating students, getting invited to more weddings than any other staff member, Younai said.

“She always maintained that ability to get close, to connect,” she said.

The three most important things to Susan, Fuller said, were her family, her faith and the school.

Susan took an unprecedented four weeks off work last July to help Missy recover from hip surgery, Missy said.

“She was just one of those people who gave so much and asked nothing in return,” Missy said.

Her memorial, held in the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden, had an unanticipated number of attendees, Maza said. Bringing together friends, former students, dentists, doctors, technicians, administration and colleagues, it demonstrated the impact Susan’s life had on the School of Dentistry, said Sean Mong, the clinic director for the UCLA School of Dentistry.

“It’s the end of an era with her being gone,” Fuller said.