Nat Dumont; Businessman, Pat Brown Campaign Aide

Nathaniel (Nat) R. Dumont, campaign finance chairman for former Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, aviation businessman and philanthropist, has died at the age of 87.

The 35-year resident of Beverly Hills died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Hospital after a long illness, publicist Gloria Luchenbill announced Wednesday.

Born in Woodbine, N.J., Dumont became mayor of that city before moving west to found his Dumont Aviation Associates in Lakewood. The firm manufactured hydraulic systems for airplanes and space vehicles. After a merger, Dumont served as consultant to Litton Industries Dumont Aviation Division.

In addition to his campaign activities, Dumont served six years on Los Angeles’ Metropolitan Transit Authority; was co-chairman of a 32-member bipartisan council of business executives appointed by Brown to advise him on economic activities, and was a member of the Military Procurement Advisory Committee of the U.S. Senate.

Internationally recognized for his aviation expertise, Dumont received the Medaille de Bronze de la Ville Paris for his contributions to air safety transportation.

In the 1960s, Dumont financed $1,000 UCLA Foreign Journalism Awards to encourage “perceptive and objective” reporting about the United States. He also served as director of the International Student Center at UCLA for nearly two decades.

His philanthropies included International Orphans Inc., to which he contributed 100 acres of land in Beaumont to assist abused children, and the Thalians Mental Health Center at Cedars-Sinai. Dumont was a founding member of the Thalians Presidents Club, and was active in the Friars Club and the Mary and Joseph League and their charities.

His wife, Valerie, whom he married in 1939 and feted with lavish anniversary balls, died in 1983. He is survived by two sisters, three nieces and one nephew.

Funeral services are scheduled for 10 a.m. today at TaNaCH Chapel in Mount Sinai Memorial Park.