Curt Adolf Sinz; Editor and Illustrator

Thousand Oaks resident Curt Adolf Sinz died Friday at Los Robles Regional Medical Center after a brief illness. He was 97.

Sinz was born March 31, 1901, in Bromberg, Germany, which is now part of western Poland. His father was a minister who was transferred with his family to several cities throughout Germany.

Sinz attended University of Hamburg before going to work as an editor for a publishing house in Hamburg, where he worked 27 years.

He served in the German army during World War II.

After the war, Sinz was a copy editor for 10 years at the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

In 1956, he moved to Glendale to be close to his daughters. Sinz worked for 10 years as an illustrator for medical textbooks and a cartographer. He retired in 1966 and remained in Glendale for another nine years.

Between 1975 and 1994, Sinz lived in Ventura, Thousand Oaks, Walnut Creek and Paso Robles. He settled in Thousand Oaks in 1994.

Sinz was a longtime member of King of Glory Lutheran Church in Newbury Park.

“He was a gentle man and a gentleman. He will be greatly missed,” said his daughter, Brunhilde Peters of Glendale.

Sinz is also survived by his wife, Ursula Sinz of Thousand Oaks; two more daughters, Elfriede Rehagen of Krefeld, Germany, and Ortrun Wallace of Salt Lake City; a son, Kurt Sinz of Alamo near San Francisco; 13 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

A service will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at King of Glory Lutheran Church in Newbury Park. Burial will follow at Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made in Sinz’s name to King of Glory Lutheran Church in Newbury Park.

Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Mortuary in Westlake is handling the arrangements.