OBITUARIES : A. R. Button; Former State Treasurer

Services will be held Monday in Beverly Hills for A. Ronald Button, former state treasurer, Republican national committeeman and longtime Hollywood attorney who died Saturday. He was 83.

Button, who died in a Los Angeles nursing hospital where he was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, was Republican State Central Committee chairman in 1953, when he was selected for the national party post in which he remained for three years.

Gov. Goodwin Knight appointed him state treasurer on Nov. 1, 1956, succeeding Charles G. Johnson, who retired following a dispute with Knight after 34 years in office.

When he left state government in 1959, Button was a key developer of Rancho Mirage near Palm Springs and continued to own property and a home there, although his principal residence was in Los Angeles.

Celebrity Clients

Button, born in Plainview, Neb., on Aug. 29, 1903, graduated from Stanford University and Harvard School of Law. In 1928, he began practicing in Hollywood, where he had a number of celebrity clients before concentrating on corporation and business law.

During World War II he was a major in the Army Signal Corps motion picture division, spending much of his duty time at Hal Roach Studios with actor Ronald Reagan.

In addition to being active in state and national Republican circles for more than three decades, Button was also involved in the Shrine, the Knights Templar, was a district governor of the Rotary Club and a state commander of Amvets. He served on the boards of the YMCA, the University of Redlands and Martin Luther King Jr. General Hospital.

He leaves his wife, Dorothy, as well as a daughter, Barbara McAllister of Tarzana, and two sons, Dr. Richard Button of Newport Beach and Ronald Button II of Phoenix. He also leaves eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Monday in Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church, 505 N. Rodeo Drive.

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Alzheimer’s Disease Foundation, 11321 Iowa Ave., Suite 7, Los Angeles 90025.