Leo Jaffe; Columbia Pictures President, Philanthropist

Leo Jaffe, motion picture pioneer with Columbia Pictures and a nationally lauded philanthropist, died Wednesday. He was 88.

Jaffe died at his home in New York City after a long illness, publicist Stephen M. Rivers said in Santa Monica.

The movie mogul worked for Columbia for more than half a century, beginning with a summer job during his pursuit of a business administration degree at New York University. In 1930, he started in the accounting department and worked upward through the ranks to become president in 1969, spearheading the move of Columbia’s headquarters from New York to Burbank in 1973. Jaffe became chairman of the board that year and retired in 1981, named chairman emeritus for life.

During his tenure at the studio, Jaffe was credited with bringing in such producers and directors as Ray Stark, Sam Spiegel, Otto Preminger, Richard Brooks, Stanley Kramer and Steven Spielberg.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan enticed Jaffe to serve as head of the United States Information Agency’s Motion Picture and Television Committee, a voluntary job he held for seven years. He earned the USIA’s first motion picture award after cajoling colleagues in the film industry to help him assemble a library ranging from Charlie Chaplin films to nightly television news highlights for use abroad by American embassies.

Jaffe was known nationally for his philanthropy and charitable efforts, beginning when he was a child selling war bonds during World War I.

He twice received the Silver Medal of Honor from New York City mayors for his humanitarian efforts, and was elected to the board of fellows of Brandeis University for his efforts to start a motion picture and theater arts program there. In 1966, Jaffe earned the Humanitarian Award from the national March of Dimes; in 1969, the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and in 1979, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts and Sciences.

Jaffe was named man of the year by the National Assn. of Motion Picture Theater Owners in 1968 and pioneer of the year by the Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation in 1972.

Jaffe is survived by his wife, Anita; sons Howard, Stanley and Ira; daughters Marcia and Andrea, stepdaughter Marilyn Hessel, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.