PASSINGS: Anne Volk Finn, Henry Wittenberg

Anne Volk Finn

Widow of L.A. councilman

Anne Volk Finn, 94, who was the widow of former Los Angeles City Councilman Howard Finn and twice tried to follow in his political footsteps, died Wednesday at her Sunland home of complications related to old age, her family said.

Soon after her husband died in 1986, she attempted to persuade the City Council to appoint her to his seat. She also led an intense bid to repeal city redistricting that had greatly altered Howard Finn’s district. Both efforts failed.

In 1993, she ran for the 7th District City Council seat, which included much of the San Fernando Valley area that her husband represented for five years. Richard Alarcon won.

She focused her energy on a number of civic organizations and community groups, including serving on the Los Angeles commission for the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution and the city’s Handicapped Access Appeals Commission.

Married for 46 years, the mother of three once said that she remained active in the community to keep her husband’s legacy alive.

Born in 1915 in Ware., Mass., she grew up in Oshkosh, Wis., and earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology at the University of Wisconsin.

In 1944, the Finns moved to Sunland. Since 1951, she had lived in a home designed and built by her architect-developer husband.

-- times staff and wire reports

Henry Wittenberg

Hall of Fame wrestler

Henry Wittenberg, 91, an amateur wrestler who went undefeated for more than 300 matches and won a gold medal at the 1948 London Olympics, died Tuesday at his home in Somers, N.Y., his family said.

A native of Jersey City, N.J., Wittenberg became a star wrestler at City College of New York. He graduated in 1940 and went on to dominate national and international freestyle wrestling in his weight class while working as a New York City police officer.

With World War II canceling the Olympics in 1940 and ‘44, Wittenberg served in the Navy.

He came back to win gold in the London Games at 191.5 pounds. His unbeaten streak ended when he won silver at the 1952 Helsinki Games, losing to Wiking Palm of Sweden in the title match.

Wittenberg won his eighth and final Amateur Athletic Union national title in 1952. He also was a two-time champion at the Maccabiah Games, the international competition for Jewish athletes in Israel.

He retired as a policeman in 1954 and went on to coach wrestling at Yeshiva University and City College, and guided the U.S. Greco- Roman team at the 1968 Mexico City Games. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1977.

Wittenberg attended the 1972 Munich Olympics as a spectator and visited with the Israeli team the night before 11 of them were killed in a terrorist attack.