Murder Victim : Kanan Buried in Cemetery She Once Sued

Judy Kanan, the tough-minded Agoura businesswoman who was mysteriously gunned down last week, was buried Monday in a Westlake Village cemetery that was the focal point of her most celebrated dispute.

About 75 persons stood in the stone-walled Kanan family plot atop a hill in the center of the Pierce Brothers-Valley Oaks Memorial Park cemetery as a priest implored God to “give our sister Judy a peaceful rest.”

Kanan, 60, was murdered last Tuesday by a hooded gunman who fired four bullets into her chest and stomach as she prepared to feed horses she kept at a Woodland Hills corral.

Known for Feisty Zeal

Although her pioneering family helped settle Agoura, Kanan was more widely known in the community for her feisty zeal in filing lawsuits over business and personal disputes.

Los Angeles Detective Philip Quartararo said investigators have no suspects in the case. They are continuing to investigate Kanan’s business background for clues to a motive for the hit-man style shooting, he said.

Kanan was buried next to her brother and mother in the 56-grave plot that she and her sister, Patricia, 62, bought as a family memorial in 1968.

The plot later was at the center of a headline-making fight between Kanan and cemetery owner Daniel K. Ludwig. The businessman sought to shrink the 181-acre cemetery to less than a quarter of its size for future subdivision and development.

Kanan and her sister sued, alleging that Ludwig’s action could bring “urban blight” to the cemetery. In 1979 they won a $1.5-million judgment in Los Angeles Superior Court from Ludwig’s American Hawaiian Steamship Co.

Development plans for the rezoned land surrounding the cemetery are expected to be submitted to the Westlake Village City Council next month. Ludwig’s proposal for a business park and high-density residential complex already has begun to draw fire from homeowners in neighboring Agoura Hills.

Among the mourners on the wind-swept hilltop Monday were Agoura Hills City Councilmen Ernest Dynda and John Hood. Although the council has no authority over the cemetery-area development, it is expected to scrutinize the project in the neighboring community.

Despite Kanan’s litigious image, she apparently prevailed in court more times than not, Dynda pointed out.

“She represented the old-fashioned grass-roots American spirit of the rugged individualist,” he said. “She worked within the system when she didn’t like something. Unfortunately, some jerk worked out of the system to put her to rest.”

Ruben Ramirez, 17, a neighbor of Kanan in Hollywood, where she lived, said she had frequently counseled him to work hard to get what he wanted in life. “She always helped anybody that needed help,” he said.

Ruth Robertson, co-owner of an Agoura Hills sporting goods store, said she also found Kanan to be fair in personal encounters, which centered around visits to the rabbit-and-chicken restaurant run by the Kanan sisters in Agoura Hills.

“It’s too bad that someone who was not the reasonable type of person she liked to deal with took the extreme approach,” Robertson said. “This is going to be very hard on her sister Pat. They were so close. They could have been twins.”

Patricia Kanan remained hidden behind a black lace veil during the four-minute graveside service. She collapsed as she entered the 40-by-50-foot family enclosure and was caught by her adopted son, Jim.

The Rev. Tim Nichols of St. Paschal Baylon Catholic Church in Thousand Oaks comforted her as she clutched at her slain sister’s slate-green casket before being helped from the cemetery.