July 16, 2009

Posted by Tom Tugend

A memorial service is being planned for Robert Korda, a longtime violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, whose apparent disappearance puzzled his family, police and most of Los Angeles for four days, until his body was discovered at the coroner’s office.
Korda also played as a guest violinist with the Israel Philharmonic during its 1986 American tour and was the leader of the Monseigneur Strings, a top society dance orchestra that performed for eight presidents and was founded by his late brother, Murray Korda.
According to his son Noah, Robert Korda left his Van Nuys home on July 8 in the afternoon heading for the Gower Studios in Hollywood, where he was scheduled to work that evening.
When the 68-year old Korda did not return home, his frantic family phoned police, hospitals and Korda’s cell phone provider, without success.
The following day, Noah Korda blogged an appeal for help to find his father, which spread rapidly through the Internet and was picked up by the general media.
Four days later, on July 12, officials at the Los Angeles County coroner’s office revealed that Korda’s body had been in their custody all along, but had been overlooked by investigators because his name had been entered into the system as “Robert Norda.”
A coroner’s spokesman said that Korda had been found unresponsive around 7 p.m. on July 8 at a home in Glendale, was rushed to a hospital and pronounced dead an hour later.
Apparently Korda died of natural causes, but police officers are continuing their investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death, police spokeswoman Jane Guzman said Tuesday (7/14).
In a phone interview, Venida Korda, Robert Korda’s former wife, said Tuesday that the violinist had played with the L.A. Philharmonic from 1960 – 1980. Afterwards, he became a freelance musician, playing with various orchestras and chamber music groups.
His longtime friend and colleague, cellist Pete Snyder, described Korda to the Los Angeles Times as a talented and dedicated musician, with a beautiful sound, an exceptional improviser, and possessing a great sense of humor.
Mrs. Korda said that her former husband of 26 years, who did not remarry after their divorce 10 years ago, frequently played his violin in San Fernando synagogues and that the family attended services at Adat Ari El and Temple B’nai Hayim.
The family flew to Israel 25 years ago to celebrate the bar mitzvah of Noah, now 38, in Beersheba. Mrs. Korda recalled that she handmade tallitot for Noah, and for the b’nai mitzvah of his younger siblings, Aaron and Sarah.
Mrs. Korda said that she, like the police, was unable at this time to explain the circumstances of Robert Korda’s death and why the family had not been notified immediately.
As of Tuesday, funeral services are pending in Vermont and a memorial service in Los Angeles.
Korda served on the board of directors of The Music Guild, and the family requests that any donations in his memory be addressed to The Music Guild, 6022 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 203, Los Angeles, CA 90036.
(end)
(7/14/09)

Julius Shulman, the gregarious photographer whose iconic images of modern architecture defined the style, died last night at the age of 98. Born in Brooklyn in 1910 to immigrant Jewish parents, his family moved to Boyle Heights when he was a boy and his devotion to Los Angeles continued throughout his long life. His work was commissioned primarily for publications—including art, architecture and shelter magazines. But his clean, romantic views of Amercian architecture transcend the publications in which they appeared. He worked nearly until his final days, and often made himself available for interviews, including sitting down with the ” title=”2007″ target=”_blank”>2007.

I had a chance to visit with Shulman in 2005 for an Julius Shulman, Architectural Photographer, dead at 98 Read More »

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is due to vote July 21 on a motion asking the county pension fund to divest itself of any assets or funds in companies doing business in Iran.
The motion by Supervisors Michael D. Antonovich and Zev Yaroslavsky is especially aimed at companies assisting Iran’s energy sectors.
“Iran has been identified by the State Department as the chief sponsor of international terrorism,” Antonovich noted in a statement. “Economic sanctions, risk warnings, credit restrictions and other measures announced by the United States, European nations, and the United Nations, make business in Iran’s oil and natural gas sector an increasing fiduciary risk.”
Thirty Years After, an organization of young Iranian Jewish professionals, has urged interested citizen to attend the Tuesday, July 21 meeting, scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m., in the Supervisors’ hearing room 381B, Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, 500 W. Temple St. – Tom Tugend