Sadie J. Moss, 88; Led Chamber Music Society

Sadie J. Moss, former president of the association that once sponsored the Monday Evening Concerts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, has died.

She was 88 when she died Sunday at UCLA Medical Center. She had assumed the presidency of the Southern California Chamber Music Society in 1955 on the death of her husband, Oscar Moss, a Los Angeles attorney who founded the society.

She remained as president until the music department of the County Art Museum took over the now 47-year-old concert tradition from the chamber society in 1984.

Mrs. Moss also was a primary patron of Ferus Gallery, which originally provided a showcase for contemporary California artists and then broadened to include innovative art from across the nation, under the directorship of her friend, Irvin Blum.

The gallery operated out of two locations on La Cienega Boulevard from 1957 to 1966.

The Monday Evening Concerts began as “Evenings on the Roof” in 1939 at the home of the late Peter Yates.

Over the years they offered contemporary composers in intimate settings, ranging from the Assistance League Playhouse to the Wilshire Ebell Clubhouse and West Hollywood Park.

In 1965 the concerts finally came to rest in the 600-seat Bing Theater of the County Art Museum, where they continue to attract a loyal, if small, following.

Mrs. Moss is survived by her son, Lawrence K. Moss of Silver Spring, Md., and eight grandchildren.