Robert F. Niven; Supporter of the Arts, Unocal Executive

Robert F. Niven, 85, former president of Los Angeles’ Town Hall and Civic Light Opera Assn. After graduating from Yale University, Niven spent his entire career at Union Oil Co. of California (now Unocal), retiring as corporate secretary in 1972. In addition to heading the Civic Light Opera group in 1947 and Town Hall in 1960, Niven was president of the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce Music Foundation and the Los Angeles Psychiatric Service, secretary of KCET-TV, Channel 28, treasurer of the Cate School, a trustee of Claremont McKenna College and a fellow of the Pierpont Morgan Library. A major civic organization fund-raiser, he aided the Los Angeles Community Chest and Los Angeles County Heart Assn. campaigns and headed a 1948 drive to raise $5 million to build a new Childrens Hospital. Niven also published four historical books, “Sign of the 76,” “The Origin of the Alphabet,” “The Big Sur Country” and “The Other Secession.” On Wednesday in Pasadena.