* Mark Edward Warren III; TV, Film Director
Mark Edward Warren III, 60, television and film director. Warren, whose directing career started with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., directed many TV series, garnering an Emmy during the 1970-71 season for an installment of “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” that featured Orson Welles. Warren earned an NAACP Image Award for best director for his work on “The Cosby Show.” He also directed episodes of “Sanford & Son,” “Barney Miller,” “What’s Happening” and “Fish.” His film credits include the 1972 “Come Back Charleston Blue.” Warren was an adjunct professor at the USC School of Cinema and Television and an instructor for the Directors Guild of America. He is survived by his wife, Beryl; his mother, Mary; three sons; and four grandchildren. On Tuesday of cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
* Max Zimmer, 105; Builder, Philanthropist
Max Zimmer, 105, pioneering Los Angeles builder and philanthropist. Zimmer, a penniless woodworker when he arrived in America from Austria at 19, launched himself into the building business when he talked a Lynwood merchant into letting him remodel his storefront to improve business. The project was successful and Zimmer went on to build seven Los Angeles synagogues, including Temple Emanuel and Temple Beth Am in Beverly Hills, Temple Israel in Hollywood and Temple Isaiah in Westwood. He also constructed many of Los Angeles’ first supermarkets. In his later years, he gave millions of dollars away, though he kept a reminder of his humble beginnings carefully folded in his wallet--the $2 he had in his pocket when he landed in America. “Why keep it? You can’t take it with you,” a still spry, then-102-year-old Zimmer told an NBC interviewer who asked about his philanthropy in 1996. A strong supporter of Israel, Zimmer raised funds to build hospitals in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. He helped found the old Mt. Sinai Hospital in Boyle Heights (which later became Cedars-Sinai Medical Center), the Los Angeles Jewish Federation, the University of Judaism and the Jewish Home for the Aging in the San Fernando Valley. On Jan. 10 in Los Angeles.
