Jack Needleman; Clothing Executive

Jack Needleman, a high school dropout who became one of the Los Angeles garment district’s most successful and influential businessmen and property owners, has died. He was 77.

Needleman, a major philanthropist who bestowed millions of dollars on USC, the City of Hope and hundreds of charities, died April 25 in Los Angeles of prostate cancer.

He was the co-founder of Anjac, a clothing manufacturing company he started in the early 1940s, using a combination of his name and that of his wife, Annette. In addition to Anjac, Needleman went on to own 60 buildings and many parking lots in the city’s historic core. As proprietor of primarily older structures, he became an influential and usually supportive figure to developers and preservationists and a major donor to the Los Angeles Conservancy.

Needleman’s holdings included the Orpheum Theatre, one of the most opulent of the old Broadway movie palaces, and the Grand Olympic Auditorium, which he made available for boxing matches and for use as a gym for underprivileged youths.

When Needleman bought the Olympic from the Los Angeles Athletic Club in 1980, many feared he would raze it--perhaps to build one of his parking lots. Instead, he restored it.

“Tear it down? Never,” he told The Times in 1994. “I could’ve sold it a hundred times. But we have a destiny here.”

A rags-to-riches individualist, Needleman rankled fellow garment district businessmen in 1993 when he refused to pay a voluntary assessment to make the area clean and safe. The tax to businesses for maintaining the area was made mandatory with enactment of a Business Improvement District in 1995.

“I’ve been in real estate for 45 years, and I have faith in the city’s great sanitation department,” said Needleman, explaining why he considered the voluntary fees unnecessary. “We have stayed in business by taking care of ourselves. The only moral obligation I have is to dignify my own buildings.”

The entrepreneur once described his Anjac women’s clothing line for The Times as “dresses that are comfortable, practical, simple to get into and out of.” Anjac was launched with a dress Needleman designed to resemble an attractive robe his wife often wore. The label has specialized in semi-fitted one- or two-piece dresses with long sleeves, easy skirts and modified cowl necklines, most popularly in black.

“We believe in the California culture and clothes we design here,” Needleman told The Times in 1976. “I feel there is more designer talent here than anyplace. We design what we feel women will like.”

Although he had lived in Los Angeles since 1943, Needleman was not a native Californian. He was born in New York City and, after dropping out of high school against his parents’ wishes, cut his teeth as a jobber in the garment district there. He promised his mother he would succeed even without a diploma, and in turn became mentor and teacher to many, as well as a USC donor.

“He was like a teacher and a great coach,” Anjac operations manager Veronica Becerra told the Downtown News. “Whenever young people came in and wanted to start their own businesses, he would remind them that he started with nothing, and they would walk away energized and filled with inspiration.”

Needleman urged his own three sons--Dennis, Marc and Steve--to succeed without his backing and refused to co-sign their business loans. He later gloried in the success of their Denmarst Co., which developed shopping centers and other properties. The family is known in Los Angeles business circles for its mutual affection and its members’ ability to work together.

Among Needleman’s major financial gifts was the $1-million Annette and Jack Needleman Center for Cancer Research at the City of Hope in Duarte. His widow, three sons and seven grandchildren have asked that memorial contributions be made to the City of Hope or to the donor’s favorite charity.