Arthur Spitzer, 91; Naturalized Citizen Was Benefactor of L.A. Arts

Arthur Spitzer, 91, who was active in education and energy planning and a benefactor of arts groups including the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, died Saturday night in his sleep of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills.

Born in Czernowitz, Austria (later part of Romania), Spitzer spent much of World War II imprisoned in a Russian labor camp in Siberia.

He later worked in Munich, where he became president of the Federation of Romanian Jews in Germany.

He immigrated to the U.S. in 1951 and six years later became a naturalized citizen.

Spitzer made his fortune with a chain of gasoline stations, which he eventually sold to Tesoro Petroleum Corp., becoming a board member and major stockholder.

Since 1984, he had operated his own investment company.

Spitzer served on the boards of the University of Tel Aviv and of Pepperdine University, where he established the chair for energy management.

Spitzer also established a national security fellowship at the Hoover Institute at Stanford and helped create the Edward Teller Center for Science, Technology and Political Thought in Boulder, Colo.

In the 1970s, he organized four international energy conferences.

On the Los Angeles arts scene, he served on the board of the Founders of the Music Center and was a familiar presence at fundraising events for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Musicians Pension Fund.