L.A. developer, philanthropist
Harold Held, 87, a longtime Los Angeles real estate developer and philanthropist, died Wednesday of leukemia.
Held launched his real estate career during California’s postwar building boom, beginning with home and apartment construction. He later focused on commercial buildings and medical offices on the Westside, including the 100 Medical Plaza building at the UCLA Medical Center and others in Westwood, Beverly Hills and Century City.
Born in Cleveland in 1920, Held received a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Ohio State University in 1941. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he moved to California in 1946.
That year he married his wife, Louise. In 1986 they founded the Held Foundation to support their philanthropic efforts with Los Angeles civic and cultural institutions as well as those of interest to the local Jewish community.
His wife died in 2001, and he established in her name the Louise K. Held scholarship fund, designed to address a shortage of nurses with bachelor’s degrees at Los Angeles hospitals.
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