James Ingebretsen; Ex-Chamber of Commerce Leader

James C. Ingebretsen, onetime Washington representative of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and later a harbor commissioner for the city, died Monday in Palos Verdes. He was 92.

Born in Salt Lake City, Ingebretsen graduated from Stanford in 1930 and received his law degree there in 1932.

He practiced law in Los Angeles until the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, when he went to Washington to serve as the chamber’s representative there. In that post, Ingebretsen often testified before Congress on measures affecting California business.

In 1942, he was named general counsel and director of governmental affairs for the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. At the war’s end, he returned to Los Angeles to practice law with the firm of Musick, Burrell and Ingebretsen.

In 1945 he was appointed a member of the board of L.A. harbor commissioners by Mayor Fletcher Bowron despite opposition from union leaders. In 1949, he was elected president of the board of harbor commissioners. In addition, he was active in the American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society.

In the early ‘50s, Ingebretsen started to retire from public and professional life to concentrate on the work of Spiritual Mobilization, a national fellowship of faith and freedom embracing Christian churchmen of all faiths.