Former Father of Year Is Jailed for Nonsupport : Dispute: A onetime prominent Beverly Hills businessman is accused of failing to make child support and spousal payments.

When Gary Familian was selected in 1982 as a national organization’s Father of the Year, it was a confirmation of the ideal family life this prominent son of a wealthy philanthropist appeared to share with his wife, Liz, and their four children.

It was a life that included a Beverly Hills mansion, vacation homes and powerful friends.

But on Friday, the 50-year-old businessman was behind bars in Los Angeles County Jail for failing to make child support and spousal payments.

“If you had told me 10 years ago that my marriage would break up and that Gary would become a deadbeat dad, I would have thought you were crazy,” Liz Familian said, reflecting on the couple’s 27-year marriage, which ended in divorce in 1990.

Gary Familian, who was being held at the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, declined to be interviewed.

Isadore Familian, Gary’s father and co-founder of one of the nation’s largest plumbing supply companies, expressed surprise upon being told his son was in jail, and called the dispute “tragic.”

“I will tell you this: My son is absolutely not the person she would make him out to be,” he said. “They had their differences, and now it has become a vicious thing.”

In court documents, Liz Familian, 48, accuses her ex-husband of owing her nearly $23,000 in payments for herself and their son Seth, 13, who lives with his mother in a small but fashionable apartment in Beverly Hills. The couple’s other children are now adults.

As the founder and president of Los Angeles Masterplanner, a monthly events calendar she created in 1987, Liz Familian has done well on her own. However, her lifestyle is a far cry from the life the couple enjoyed before their separation in 1984--which included a six-figure salary earned by her husband as an executive in the family business and, later, in other companies.

Despite the couple’s fortune, once estimated at $5.5 million, a lawyer for Liz Familian said that debts incurred by Gary Familian resulted in his ex-wife getting “virtually nothing” from the divorce settlement and that the monthly payments she is supposed to receive are a necessity.

Gary Familian had been on probation since March for falling behind on his court-ordered payments. On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Richard Denner sentenced Familian to five days in jail after his ex-wife presented evidence that, among other things, he had spent $1,250 to help settle a lawsuit against him while claiming to have no money to pay her and her youngest son.

“The law is very clear as to what comes first in this situation, and that is his child and ex-wife,” said Linda Gross, Liz Familian’s attorney.

Gross said that since the couple’s separation, her client had “gone through one ordeal after another” trying to collect from Familian, adding that the task was made more difficult because Familian was apparently being supported by his investor-philanthropist father.

Familian represented himself during the 30-minute court proceeding, declining an offer by the judge for an appointed lawyer, Gross said.

“It’s very sad to see a man of this caliber who was once viewed as a model father essentially abandon his parental responsibilities,” she said.

The elder Familian acknowledged that he has helped support his son. Court records show that he lent his son nearly $6,000 in June for back rent on his Santa Monica apartment, and another $700 in May to cover an automobile lease.

Isadore Familian said his son is employed, but declined to say what he is doing. However, he said his son “can’t afford an attorney.”

Isadore Familian was co-founder of Familian Pipe and Supply Co. He and his late first wife, Sunny, became well known for their involvement with numerous charities. The Sunny and Isadore Familian Children’s Hospital at City of Hope Medical Center is named for them. Isadore Familian’s name also adorns the main building at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles.

Before separation from his wife, friends say, Gary Familian appeared to be following in his father’s footsteps.

As vice president of the family plumbing business for years, and later as an investor and consultant, Gary Familian led a high-octane life. The couple’s circle of friends included a number of the city’s most influential figures in the arts and politics.

“I remember Gary as very creative, hard-working and dedicated, someone who cared a lot about the community,” said Esther Wachtell, president of the Music Center of Los Angeles County, where Familian twice headed fund-raising drives.

In the early 1970s, the couple’s self-described “sensitivity sessions”--dinner parties held at their Beverly Hills mansion and featuring a range of Democratic Party officials, candidates and fund-raisers--became regular and prominent events on the Beverly Hills social scene, and helped fuel Gary Familian’s political ambition.

In 1976, Familian ran for Congress in a district that stretched from Marina del Rey to Santa Monica. Although he lost to Republican Robert K. Dornan, who now represents an Orange County district, friends say that even amid a bitter campaign, Familian never seemed to lose sight of his family.

In 1982, he was honored by the National Father’s Day Assn. as a Father of the Year under its philanthropic category, Liz Familian said.

From the time the couple separated in 1984 until 1986, she said her husband provided regular support for her and the children. But the payments, she added, became sporadic after that time, making it necessary on several occasions for her to go to court to force compliance with a judge’s order. The divorce became final in 1990.

In January, she said, the payments stopped, forcing her back to court and resulting in her ex-husband being ordered to jail. During court appearances, Liz Familian said, her ex-husband told the judge he had no assets with which to make the payments.

“I always thought of Gary as an excellent father,” said cable television executive Marc Nathanson, an old friend, who expressed shock at the latest turn of events.

“It’s just tragic,” said Wachtell, of the Music Center. “He--they--were so committed to each other, to their work and to the community. They were a great family.”