C. Ducommun; Industry, Civic, Cultural Leader
Charles Emil Ducommun, former head of his family’s historic Ducommun Inc. and a key Los Angeles-area civic and cultural leader, has died. He was 78.
The industrialist died Sunday at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica of heart failure, company chief executive officer Norman Barkeley said Monday.
Ducommun, who retired in 1978, had spent his entire career in the company founded in 1849 by his grandfather as Ducommun Metals & Supply Co. Working his way through the ranks, he served as president from 1950 to 1973 and as chairman from 1973 until his retirement.
The company, one of the oldest in California, was included in the Register of Historic California Businesses compiled by the California Historical Society in 1981.
Ducommun was well known for his efforts to make Los Angeles a cultural center--serving as chairman and president of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Assn., as a director of the Los Angeles Music Center Operating Co. and its support group, The Founders, and as a founding trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
He served as president of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce in 1957 and as president of the United Givers campaign from 1958 to 1960.
Active in Republican politics, Ducommun served as Los Angeles County chairman of the Eisenhower-Nixon presidential campaign in 1952 and, in 1960, was state vice chairman of the Nixon for President Committee. He was a member of the Republican National Finance Committee in the 1950s and chairman of its state counterpart.
Ducommun also composed lyrics and music for five copyrighted songs and wrote three privately published books--”Black and/or White,” “The Man With the Grey Flannel Mind” and “The Golden Island.”
Born in Los Angeles on April 27, 1913, he was educated at Harvard School and Stanford University and earned an MBA at Harvard University. He was a Navy lieutenant in World War II and served as aide to the chief of staff of the U. S. Fleet from 1944 to 1946.
Ducommun’s government service included membership on the national Advisory Committee on World Trade and the Governor’s Commission on Small Business in the 1950s. He was deputy chief of protocol for California from 1967 to 1972.
Ducommun is survived by a son, Robert Constant Ducommun; a daughter, Electra Ducommun DePeyster, and two grandchildren. His wife, Palmer, died in 1988.
A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 580 Hilgard Avenue, Westwood. Burial will be private.
The family has asked that any memorial contributions be made to St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica or the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
