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Times Mirror Company: Grammatical fixes and links

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{{short description|American cultural leader (1901–97)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Dorothy Chandler
| image = Dorothy Buffum Chandler.jpg
| caption =
| birth_name = Dorothy Mae Buffum
| birth_date = {{birth date|1901|5|19}}
| birth_place = [[La Fayette, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1997|7|6|1901|5|19}}
| death_place = [[Los Angeles]], California, U.S.
| parents = [[Charles Abel Buffum]]<br />Fern Smith Buffum
| alma_mater = [[Stanford University]]
| spouse = {{marriage |[[Norman Chandler]]|1922|1973|end=d.}}
| children = Camilla Chandler<br />[[Otis Chandler]]
| relatives = [[Mike Chandler]] (grandson)<br />[[Harrison Gray Otis (publisher)|Harrison Gray Otis]] (grandfather-in-law)<br />[[Harry Chandler]] (father-in-law)
| awards = {{plainlist|
* Variety Clubs International, Humanitarian Award {{small|1974}}
* UCLA Medal {{small|1982}}
* [[National Medal of Arts]] {{small|1985}}
}}
}}
'''Dorothy Buffum Chandler''' (May 19, 1901 – July 6, 1997; born '''Dorothy Mae Buffum''') was an American philanthropist. She is known for her contributions to [[Los Angeles]] performing arts and culture.

==Personal life==
[[File:Dorothy_BUFFUM_Stanford_1923_01.jpg|left|thumb|Buffum's [[Stanford University|Stanford]] yearbook photograph]]
Dorothy Mae Buffum was born in 1901 in [[La Fayette, Illinois]]. Nicknamed "Buff" or "Buffie", her family moved to [[Long Beach, California]] in 1905.<ref name="latimes"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Writer |first=Times Staff |date=1997-07-07 |title=From the Archives: Dorothy Chandler, Cultural Leader, Dies |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-dorothy-chandler-19970707-story.html |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lyman |first=Rick |date=1997-07-08 |title=Dorothy Chandler, 96, Dies; Arts Patron in Los Angeles |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/08/arts/dorothy-chandler-96-dies-arts-patron-in-los-angeles.html |access-date=2025-02-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Her father, [[Charles Abel Buffum]], alongside her uncle, Edwin, opened a store that would become later become the [[Buffums]] department store chain.<ref name="latimes"/> Buffum attended [[Long Beach Polytechnic High School|Long Beach High School]], and was described as a competitive student for her gender, especially against the opposite sex.<ref name="latimes">{{cite news |last1=Shuit |first1=Douglas |title=Despite All Odds, Poly Still Excels |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-26-mn-32949-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=26 March 1998}}</ref> An enthusiastic sprinter, she once marked that “I didn't take to boys much except to run against them and beat them".<ref name="latimes"/><ref name="From the LA Times Archives">{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-dorothy-chandler-19970707-story.html|title=From the Archives: Dorothy Chandler, Cultural Leader, Dies|date=1997-07-07|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-30}}</ref>

Buffum went on to study history at [[Stanford University]], and was a member of the [[Pi Beta Phi]] [[Fraternities and sororities#Sororities|sorority]].<ref name="From the LA Times Archives" /> At a school dance, she met fellow student [[Norman Chandler]], the eldest son of the family that had published the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' since 1883. The couple married in 1922, and had two children, Camilla and [[Otis Chandler|Otis]], both born in 1927. The Chandlers went on to have eight grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.<ref name="From the LA Times Archives" /> In 1945, her husband became publisher of the ''Times,'' a position he held until he was succeeded by their son, Otis, in 1960. Norman died in 1973, and Chandler never remarried.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/privilegedsonoti00mcdo|title=Privileged son: Otis Chandler and the rise and fall of the L.A. Times dynasty|last=McDougal|first=Dennis|date=2001|publisher=Perseus Pub.|isbn=978-0-7382-0270-9|location=Cambridge, Mass.|oclc=954633067|url-access=registration}}</ref> The family lived in Los Tiempos (the Times), a grand house on Lorraine Blvd. in [[Windsor Square, Los Angeles]], where she lived until her death in 1997.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/07/07/dorothy-chandler-dies/17ecb962-a357-40e4-ae80-33f466d7bdd4/ {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://la.curbed.com/2016/11/28/13766716/dorothy-chandler-windsor-square-mansion-lists|title=Dorothy Chandler's Windsor Square mansion lists for $50M|last=Barragan|first=Bianca|date=2016-11-28|website=Curbed LA|language=en|access-date=2019-12-29}}</ref>

==Career==

===Times Mirror Company===
Chandler worked at the ''Times'' or its parent, the [[Times Mirror Company]], from 1948 to 1976. She was a director of Times Mirror from 1955 until 1973, when she was named director emeritus. She initiated the Times Woman of the Year award, which was given to 243 women from 1950 through 1976.<ref name="From the LA Times Archives" />

=== Philanthropy ===
In 1956, President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] appointed Chandler to his Committee on Education Beyond the High School and, in 1964, President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] named her to the U.S. Advisory Commission on Information.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

As the wife of the publisher of the city's leading newspaper, Chandler became active in Los Angeles cultural circles.{{cn|date=June 2024}} In 1951, a financial crisis closed the [[Hollywood Bowl]] during its summer season. Chandler chaired a committee that organized a series of fundraising concerts that led to the Bowl's reopening. She later served as president of its parent organization, the Southern California Symphony Association.{{cn|date=June 2024}} Chandler served as a regent and chairwoman of the Building Committee of the [[University of California]] from 1954 to 1968, during its period of most rapid growth, when the system grew from five to nine campuses. She also served as a trustee of [[Occidental College]] from 1952 to 1967.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

Chandler later led a nine-year effort to build a [[performing arts center]] for the city of Los Angeles. In 1955, she raised $400,000 at a [[benefit concert]] at the [[Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)|Ambassador Hotel]] featuring [[Dinah Shore]], [[Danny Kaye]] and [[Jack Benny]]. Chandler sought funds from both the long established "old money" families of [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], but also to "new money" communities on the city's [[Westside (Los Angeles County)|Westside]] and Hollywood, many of whom were Jewish. Attorney [[Paul Ziffren]] remarked that "before the Music Center, Jews were not a part of the social life of this community." He regarded Chandler to be "primarily responsible for opening up this community in terms of Jews and Gentiles."<ref name="From the LA Times Archives" /> Chandler eventually garnered enough donations to cover $20 million of the estimated $35 million total cost; the remainder was paid through private bond sales.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M36VtDgsBfUC&q=18+million+with+her+battalion | title=The Powers That Be | last=Halberstam | first=David | author-link=David Halberstam | date=1979 | publisher=Alfred A. Knopf | page=268 | isbn=0-394-50381-3 | language=en}}</ref>

Chandler was featured on the cover of the December 18, 1964, issue of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, which praised her fundraising efforts as "perhaps the most impressive display of virtuoso money-raising and civic citizenship in the history of U.S. womanhood." The [[Los Angeles Music Center]] held its first performance on December 6, 1964. Chandler hired its first conductor, [[Zubin Mehta]], to lead the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]] orchestra.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Golden dreams: California in an age of abundance, 1950–1963|last=Starr|first=Kevin|date=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-515377-4|location=Oxford|oclc=261177770}}</ref> The complex was completed in 1967, consisting of three venues: the [[Dorothy Chandler Pavilion]], named in honor of Chandler, the [[Mark Taper Forum]] and the [[Ahmanson Theatre]]. The Chandler Pavilion served as the home of the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]] from 1964 until 2003, when the Music Center opened its fourth hall, the [[Walt Disney Concert Hall]].{{Cn|date=June 2024}}

Author [[David Halberstam]] referred to Chandler as a "woman before her time. A feminist in pioneer country. Always, above all else, a presence."<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M36VtDgsBfUC&dq=%3Dpioneer+country&pg=PA267 | title=The Powers That Be | last=Halberstam | first=David | author-link=David Halberstam | date=1979 | publisher=Alfred A. Knopf | page=267 | isbn=0-394-50381-3 | language=en}}</ref> Former Mayor [[Tom Bradley (American politician)|Tom Bradley]] declared her "a giant in the cultural life of Los Angeles. We shall always remember her whenever we see the Music Center, knowing that without her vision and energetic leadership, it would not have been built in our lifetime."<ref name="From the LA Times Archives" /> On September 17, 2005, the Walt Disney Concert Hall held a Dorothy Chandler memorial concert. {{cn|date=June 2024}}

==Awards==
* 1971: the Herbert Hoover Medal for Distinguished Service, awarded by the Stanford University Alumni Assn.
*1974: Humanitarian Award from Variety Clubs International
* 1982: UCLA Medal from the [[University of California, Los Angeles]]
* 1985: National Medal of Arts from the [[National Endowment for the Arts]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* Los Angeles Music Center, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130315200024/http://www.musiccenter.org/about/About-The-Music-Center/History--Archives/Dorothy-Buffum-Chandler/ biography]
* Historical Society of Southern California, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110722141527/http://www.socalhistory.org/bios/dchandler.html biography by Albert Greenstein]}}, 1999
*[https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-dorothy-chandler-19970707-story.html Los Angeles Times Obituary]

{{National Medal of Arts recipients 1980s|state=autocollapse}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandler, Dorothy Buffum}}
[[Category:1901 births]]
[[Category:1997 deaths]]
[[Category:Otis family]]
[[Category:History of Los Angeles]]
[[Category:People from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Philanthropists from California]]
[[Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients]]
[[Category:University of California regents]]
[[Category:American women in business]]
[[Category:20th-century American philanthropists]]
[[Category:20th-century American women]]
[[Category:Chandler family (publishing)|Dorothy Buffum]]
[[Category:People from Stark County, Illinois]]
[[Category:People from Long Beach, California]]
[[Category:Stanford University alumni]]
[[Category:Long Beach Polytechnic High School alumni]]

Dorothy Buffum Chandler - Revision history

imported>Martin Blank: /* Times Mirror Company */ Grammatical fixes and links