Archivist and researcher Dan Luckenbill died on March 25, 2012 in Twentynine Palms, California, where he lived after retiring from the UCLA Library in 2008 after 38 years of service. He curated numerous exhibits and wrote catalogs on lesbian and gay studies at UCLA and on the work of Stathis Orphanos and Ralph Sylvester. He also published essays and gay fiction, as well as a memoir entitled "Isherwood in Los Angeles," which appeared in the Lambda Award-winning collection of essays, The Isherwood Century, ed. James Berg and Chris Freeman (2001).

Luckenbill was born in Decatur, Illinois. He moved to California in 1962, attended Compton Community College and then UCLA, where he received his B.A. in 1966.

He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, Field Artillery, in 1967, and served two campaigns in Vietnam. He was recipient of a Bronze Star with a Combat "V."

In 1970, Luckenbill began his career at the UCLA Library and also became a historian and researcher of California history and a participant and historian of the Los Angeles glbtq movement.

He is author of the glbq.com entries on Los Angeles and on Stathis Orphanos and Ralph Sylvester.

Luckenbill served on the Monette-Horwitz Trust Advisory Committee and as secretary of the Board of Directors, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives. He also served as president of the Friends of the Twentynine Palms Branch Library and on the Public Arts Advisory Committee for the City of Twentynine Palms.

He is survived by his sister, Dorothy E. Nix, and his niece, Judith, both of Racine, Wisconsin.

A memorial service will be held at the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives on May 6, 2012.