1,000 Attend Rites for Civic Leader John Zimmerman
More than 1,000 people attended the funeral last week of John Zimmerman Jr., one of the city’s original City Council members, who died Sept. 26 of leukemia at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Bellflower. He was 78.
Zimmerman served as mayor four times while on the City Council from 1957 to 1982. He started the city’s bus system and a sister-city program with Hermosillo, Mexico.
He spent 36 years as a Cub Scout official and was involved with the Kiwanis, Jaycees, PTA and Toastmasters. A park at Shoemaker Avenue and Foster Road was named in his honor in 1983.
“He was a pillar of our community,” said Bill White, 72, a board member of the Norwalk/La Mirada School District since 1981. White’s twin brother, Bob, who resigned from Norwalk council this year after suffering a stroke in December, worked with Zimmerman for years.
Zimmerman worked for the Norwalk/La Mirada Unified School District and later as director of maintenance, transportation and operations at Cerritos College. The Zimmerman family has operated the Norwalk Travel Agency for 33 years.
Zimmerman is survived by Eleanor, his wife of 53 years, and two sons, Guy and Gary.
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