Dorothy Buffum Chandler, who helped her husband build the Los Angeles Times and fostered charity drives throughout Los Angeles, has died at the age of 96. Chandler married Norman Chandler, the L.A. Times publisher from 1944 to 1960, and was the mother of Otis Chandler, who served as the newspaper’s publisher from 1960 to 1980 and still serves on the Board of Directors of Time Mirror. Dorothy Chandler began work at the newspaper in 1948 and, during her work, took a keen interest in the women’s page and established the Times Women of the Year awards.
Chandler also helped raise funds for cultural institutions throughout the city. She raised the money to save the Hollywood Bowl and helped raise $19 million to fund the downtown Music Center in L.A. The Music Center, which is frequently the site of the Academy Awards, now bears her name.
David Halberstam, who wrote a book describing the leading communications empires in the country, described Chandler as “a woman before her time. A feminist pioneer Always, above else, a presence.” L.A. Mayor Richard Riorden said of her, “In culture, she certainly was the most outstanding leader in the history of the city.”
