Bernard M. Shapiro, 89; Philanthropist Founded Country Club for All
Bernard M. Shapiro, 89, who founded the El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana in 1957, died Friday at Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center after a short illness, his family announced.
After playing golf at the Bel-Air Country Club in 1954, Shapiro wanted to join, but a friend told him he would not be welcome because he was Jewish, Shapiro told The Times in 1998. With the help of a few friends, including supermarket owner Eugene Gelson, Shapiro built a member-owned country club that anyone was welcome to join.
Shapiro was born in Minneapolis to parents who had fled Eastern Europe. His Los Angeles company, Royal Seal, began in the 1930s as a vending machine business and expanded to processing nuts and manufacturing for national candy-makers.
When he sold the company in 1947, he retired and became a philanthropist. He helped found the Boys and Girls Club of the San Fernando Valley and served on the board of many service organizations.
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