Morris B. Pendleton, Civic Leader, Industrialist, Dies

Morris B. Pendleton, a Southern California industrialist and civic leader, has died in Claremont after a brief illness. He was 84.

Pendleton was the retired chairman of Pendleton Tool Industries Inc., which manufactures hand tools, and was a former member of the Pomona College Board of Trustees. He died Monday.

Born Feb. 4, 1901, in Saratoga, Calif., Pendleton was educated in Berkeley and graduated from Pomona College with a degree in economics.

He went to work in the forge shop and stockroom of the Plomb Tool Co., a small Los Angeles firm that his father partly owned. It had been founded as a blacksmith shop in 1907.

Became President in 1936

Pendleton worked his way up to the presidency of the company in 1936, and the company’s name was changed to Pendleton Tool Industries. After it was purchased by the Ingersoll-Rand Co., Pendleton was named to the board of the parent company.

He was a trustee of Pomona College from 1947 to 1974 and was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from the school in 1971. Pendleton was also a regent of Pepperdine University.

He was also a director on the boards of the Los Angeles Metropolitan YMCA, the Braille Institute, Goodwill Industries of Southern California, the San Gabriel Valley Council of Boy Scouts of America and the California Museum Foundation.

He is survived by his wife, Gladys S. Pendleton; a sister, Adaline P. Satterthwaite of Langhorne, Pa; a son, John M. Pendleton of La Jolla; a daughter, Barbara P. Wimmer of Seattle; five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.