Dorothy Morton; City Commissioner
- Share via
Dorothy Morton, art patron, horsewoman and former city commissioner, died Wednesday night in her Hancock Park home.
Mrs. Morton, widow of Los Angeles attorney Harold C. Morton, who died in 1978, was 94.
During the administrations of Mayors Sam Yorty and Norris Poulson, she was the only female member of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission and the city Recreation and Parks Commission. She and her husband were among the Music Center’s founders.
An avid horsewoman, she was one of the first women licensed as a racetrack trainer in the state, in 1938. Her horses also competed on the show circuit.
Her survivors include three daughters, a son, 17 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
Why is California’s wildfire strategy wrong for SoCal? After massive blazes, the state changed its approach, but it only works for the north. Listen to find out what officials are doing wrong — and the surprising strategy they’re turning to next.
In 1990, UCLA student Ronald Baker was murdered in a railway tunnel. While his occult interests fueled “Satanic Panic” rumors, police found his killers knew him well — one had even carried his casket.
A gunman targeted an elementary school in Rancho Tehama after a deadly rampage. The media barely covered it. Five years later, an L.A. Times reporter wants to know why.
