Symphony Patron Harry Reinsch Dies

Harry O. Reinsch, a patron of Orange County arts and the retired president of Bechtel Power Corp., died of cancer Thursday, at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage. He was 75.

“He was a great friend of the [Orange County] Philharmonic Society,” Dean Corey, the society’s executive director, said Monday. “We were in some tough times [in recent years] and . . . his support was critical at the time.”

In 1993, Corey said, the Philharmonic faced a $300,000 deficit. To tackle its financial problem, the society established the Esterhazy Foundation, named after a European family whose patronage to the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn was critical to his success. To be an Esterhazy member, patrons give $50,000 to the society, Corey said.

Reinsch was one of the first donors, and his generosity encouraged others to give, Corey said.

Reinsch opened his Laguna Beach home to fund-raising events for the Philharmonic Society, other arts groups and AIDS-related organizations, said his son, Richard, who retired last year as chairman of the board of the society.

Harry Reinsch was born in Los Angeles on Feb. 12, 1922, and went to work at age 12 to help support his family during the Depression. He attended the UC Davis, but a 1941 automobile accident prevented him from continuing his studies. He supervised piping installation crews at shipyards in Long Beach during World War II.

In 1950, Reinsch joined Bechtel Corp., the worldwide engineering, construction and management company based in San Francisco. When he retired in 1987, he was president and vice chairman of Bechtel Power and director of Bechtel Group Inc.

Reinsch was a director of Wells Fargo & Co., Wells Fargo Bank, from 1979 to 1992, and later was a director emeritus. He was an executive director and a member of the executive committee of the USA-Republic of China Economic Council and was honorary chairman of the Korean American Business Institute.

He was also a benefactor of a number of charities in Orange and Riverside counties.

Reinsch is survived by his wife of 55 years, Helen; sons Jim, of New Delhi, India, and Richard, of Laguna Beach; a daughter, Linda Marshall of Cleveland, England; eight grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

There will be no memorial service. The family suggests memorials to the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center at the Eisenhower Medical Center, 39000 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270; or, the Living Desert, 47900 Portola Ave., Palm Desert, CA 92260.