Harold Wagner; Former Head of YMCA in L.A.

Harold A. Wagner, general manager of the Young Men’s Christian Assn. of Metropolitan Los Angeles for 20 years, died Thursday in Claremont. Death was attributed to heart failure. He was 88.

Wagner held the post from 1946 to 1966, a period during which the local association grew from 19 branches to 27. The number of summer campers increased from about 4,300 to nearly 10,000, and the youth membership grew from fewer than 39,000 to nearly 98,000.

‘Y Buildings for Youth’

During Wagner’s years in the job, the “Y Buildings for Youth” development program raised money to construct 21 new YMCA buildings or major additions to existing facilities.

At the time, said John G. Ouellet, president of the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles, it was “the largest building fund campaign of any YMCA in history.”

Wagner joined the Y as a boy in Long Beach, subsequently becoming a volunteer and then assistant boys’ work director for the Long Beach Y in 1919. He was manager of the Pasadena Y’s camp on Santa Catalina Island from 1922 to 1924 and in 1925 joined the staff of the Los Angeles Y as community boys’ work director of the downtown branch. He later served as its executive director.

Director in San Francisco

Before becoming general manager of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Y, he held various other YMCA positions, including that of managing director of the San Francisco Y.

After retiring from the YMCA, Wagner spent 10 years as assistant to the president of Occidental College, from which he was graduated in 1924.

Wagner, who had been living in a Pomona retirement community, is survived by his wife, Constance; a son, and three grandsons.

Services at Claremont Congregational Church are pending.

Memorial tributes can be made in care of the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles, the San Marino Rotary Club or Occidental College.