Dorothy Buffum Chandler

ABOUT DOROTHY BUFFUM CHANDLER

Wife of the Los Angeles newspaper mogul who became a noted philanthropist and patron of Los Angeles' performing arts institutions.

She met her future husband, Norman Chandler , heir to the publishing empire, at a school dance in Stanford, and through him became a popular political and social activist in California.

When financial difficulties threatened the life of the Hollywood Bowl in 1950, she organized a series of fundraising concerts to save the venerable institution. She also helped found the Los Angeles Music Center in the 1960s.

Her father and uncle owned a chain of 16 Buffum's department stores.

To raise funds for the building of the Los Angeles Music Center, she organized a series of benefit performances, featuring performances by Dinah Shore and Jack Benny.