Obituaries : Bill H. Maher; Retired Accountant

Bill H. Maher, a retired accountant and Chatsworth chicken farmer, has died in North Hollywood. He was 79.

Maher, who lived in Chatsworth for 50 years, died Thursday of heart failure, said his wife, Generose Maher.

Born in Monrovia, Maher graduated from Cathedral High School in Los Angeles. He later went to work for the Southern California Gas Co. in downtown Los Angeles as an accountant, a position he held for about 20 years until the late 1950s. He left the job to help on the family’s five-acre, 10,000-chicken ranch in Chatsworth. The chickens were sold in the early 1960s and he managed two liquor stores in Canoga Park before retiring in 1980.

He is survived by his wife of 49 years; sons Larry Maher of Simi Valley, Dennis Maher of Chatsworth and Lyn Maher of Canoga Park; a daughter, Marcella Giordano of Moorpark; brother Joe Maher of Los Angeles; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

A funeral will be held today at 11:30 a.m. at St. John Eudes Church, 9901 Mason Ave. in Chatsworth. Burial will follow at Assumption Cemetery in Simi Valley. Bastian & Perrott Mortuary in Northridge handled the arrangements.