Harold R. Shire, 95; Attorney, Inventor, Author

Harold R. Shire, who had successive careers as a lawyer, inventor, businessman, educator and author, has died at the age of 95.

Shire died Friday of natural causes at a Culver City hospital, said his wife, Cecilia.

As an attorney, Shire was a prosecutor with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office in the late 1930s and with the U.S. attorney’s office for Los Angeles and San Diego from 1939 to 1942. Cases he prosecuted included charges against a Nazi for illegally entering the United States and against an El Centro, Calif., police chief for kidnapping a reputed Japanese gambling boss and taking him to Mexico.

After serving in the Army in World War II, Shire went into private practice, handling such cases as a divorced actress’ demand for custody of the family dog, the defense of an accused jewel thief and opening secret FBI files in a military draft dispute.

In the mid-1950s, Shire invented a flexible connector that was helpful in the de-icing of airplanes. From 1956 until 1973 he manufactured O-rings as president and chairman of his company, General Connectors Corp.

The Denver-born Shire, who earned his law degree from Southwestern University School of Law and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1937, earned an MBA at Pepperdine University in 1972, a master of liberal arts at USC in 1977 and a doctorate in human behavior at U.S. International University in San Diego in 1980. He taught management and law at Pepperdine, where he was a member of the board of directors, and at U.S. International University.

With his eclectic interests, Shire also wrote the books “Cha No Yu and Symbolic Interactionism: Method of Predicting Japanese Behavior” in 1980, and “The Tea Ceremony” in 1984. He served on the national board of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

In addition to Cecilia, his wife of 31 years, Shire is survived by daughters Donna Gudvi and Margaret Walstine; stepchildren David Glick, Eva Ehrman and Esti Greenstein; 15 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.