S. Joan Mier; Helped Found Children’s Camps in Malibu

S. Joan Mier, attorney, philanthropist and author whose major charities involved the establishment of two camps in Malibu for children, died Sunday in Los Angeles. The widow of Harry A. Mier, with whom she wrote several self-help books, she was 86.

Born in New York into a family of 10 children and raised in Cleveland, she came to California in 1927 after passing the Ohio Bar. She was in private practice when she married Mier, the management consultant credited with helping establish Max Factor as a major cosmetics force.

Together they wrote such books as “Happiness Begins Before Breakfast” and “The Power You Have.”

They founded their first children’s camp, Camp Hess Kramer (named for a friend) on a 120-acre site in Malibu where, under the auspices of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, it offers various youth programs. The Miers then donated land to the Crippled Children’s Society for Camp Joan Mier, also in Malibu, for crippled children who suffer additionally from heart and respiratory problems.

After Mier’s death in 1971, his wife donated land for the Harry A. Mier Center in Inglewood which also was donated to the Crippled Children’s Society.

Her other community activities included the Music Center, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Hillcrest Country Club, United Jewish Welfare Fund and the Jewish Home for the Aging. Although she and her husband were childless, Mrs. Mier was named “Mother of the Year” in 1969 by Helping Hand of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

In 1977 she became the first woman president of the Crippled Children’s Society.

Survivors include three sisters and a brother.

A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. today at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angeles.