Hugh B. Dynes, 90; Chief Deputy to 3 L.A. County Supervisors

Hugh B. Dynes, 90, a Monterey Park city councilman who became chief deputy to three successive Los Angeles County supervisors over 27 years, died of complications of pneumonia Saturday in West Covina.

A native of Liverpool, England, Dynes moved to Montreal with his family in 1915 and came to California in 1930, when he turned 18. He settled in Monterey Park and, by the late 1940s, was a City Council member. He also served as secretary of the Monterey Park Planning Commission and was a president of the city’s Optimist Club.

In 1950, Dynes was named a field deputy for newly elected county Supervisor Herbert C. Legg. Five years later, he moved up to chief deputy when the aide he replaced was indicted for accepting a bribe.

Dynes himself came under fire from muckraking former broadcaster and Supervisor Baxter Ward, who accused him of soliciting funds from a Long Beach architect. Dynes said he had asked the man to pay for a lunch after the swearing in of Supervisor Pete Schabarum; the district attorney found no prosecutable crime.

After Legg’s tenure ended, Dynes served as chief deputy to Supervisor Frank G. Bonelli and then to Schabarum. When he retired in 1977, Dynes became a real estate agent. Supervisor Mike Antonovich recently appointed him to the county Tax Appeals Board.

The Board of Supervisors officially recognized Dynes on his 90th birthday Oct. 2 for his many years of service.