Appraiser ‘Ted’ Lundberg, 88

Prominent Orange County real estate appraiser Theodore “Ted” Lundberg has died of a stroke. He was 88.

“He was my backup,” said Lois Ann Lundberg, his wife of 46 years, who served as chairwoman of the Orange County Republican Central Committee from 1976 to 1985. The couple, who married in 1954, lived in La Habra and were close friends of the late President Nixon.

“He was the wind beneath my wings,” Lois Lundberg said of her husband. “There are many things I couldn’t have done without his support.”

Born Oct. 27, 1911, Ted Lundberg served as a U.S. Army officer in the Pacific during World War II. Later he served in the Philippine Islands, eventually retiring from the Army Reserve in the late 1960s with the rank of major.

Lundberg then became a real estate appraiser whose Anaheim firm once appraised that city’s entire downtown. With his wife, he helped to shape the landscape of Orange County politics.

As Republican Party chairwoman, Lois Lundberg in 1977 organized Nixon’s first public appearance after his resignation from the presidency three years before. It was a turning point not only for Nixon but for the party, which under her leadership grew to become the county’s dominant political force.

She helped to change the party’s image by moving its central headquarters from an old warehouse in Santa Ana to a fashionable location at the Town and Country Center in Orange. She also played a pivotal role in persuading Robert K. Dornan to move to Orange County and run for Congress, a position he held for many years.

Through it all, Ted Lundberg played a major supporting role. “He was very much a partner,” his widow said. “He was a very devoted father and filled in when I had to be away.” After he retired in 1981, she said, he became an avid golfer who also “spent a lot of time gardening and playing with the grandchildren.”

Besides his wife, Lundberg is survived by daughters Linda Lundberg of La Habra and Sharon Lundberg Stramler of Anaheim; and granddaughters Autumn and Anna Stramler of Anaheim.

A funeral service is set for 11 a.m. Thursday at Lutheran Church of the Master in La Habra, followed by a full military burial at Memory Garden Memorial Park in Brea.