Julian A. Virtue; Industrialist, Major Pepperdine, GOP Donor
Julian A. Virtue, a prominent industrialist, a leading contributor to Republican causes and a philanthropist who established a chair of economics at Pepperdine University, is dead.
A Pepperdine spokesman said Virtue, one of the country’s most successful manufacturers of commercial furniture, was 83 when he died Friday at Torrance Memorial Hospital.
He began in business with his brother when he was 17 and by 1950 had become a leader in the dinette manufacturing industry. His companies, Virtue Bros. and later Virco Manufacturing Corp., produced furniture for schools, offices, churches, restaurants, hotels and other public buildings.
He was a key supporter of Ronald Reagan at the state and national level, and of Supervisor Deane Dana.
Virtue also served as chairman of the United Republican Finance Committee and as a director of Pepperdine University, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1977. Additionally, he was on the steering committee for the school’s successful $137-million fund-raising campaign in 1989, and supported the Salvation Army and the Optimist Boys’ Home in northeast Los Angeles.
Survivors include his wife, Elvira, three sons, a daughter, 12 grandchildren and a great-grandson.
Contributions in his name may be made to Pepperdine University’s School of Business and Management.
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