The Political Graveyard: Mayer family of California

Mayer family of California

Note: This is just one of 643 family groupings listed on The Political Graveyard web site. These families each have three or more politician members, all linked together by blood, marriage or adoption.

Some families traditionally (and perhaps properly) considered separately are joined together here if linked by marriage or otherwise. These groupings — even the names of the groupings, and the state or lists of states of main activity — are the result of a computer algorithm, not the choices of any historian or genealogist.

Louis Burt Mayer (1882-1957) — also known as Louis B. Mayer; Eliezer Meir — of Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, Calif. Born in Minsk, Russia (now Belarus), 1882. Son of Jacob Mayer and Sarah (Meltzer) Mayer; married, June 14, 1903, to Margaret Shenberg (divorced 1944); married, December 4, 1948, to Lorena L. Danker; father of Irene Gladys Mayer (1907-1990) (who married David Oliver Selznick) and Edith 'Edie' Mayer (who married William Goetz). Republican. Owned movie theaters in New England; moved into the movie production business starting in 1916; head of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) movie studio, 1924-51; delegate to Republican National Convention from California, 1928, 1932; vice-chair of California Republican Party, 1931-32; California Republican state chair, 1932-33. Jewish. Member, Freemasons; Shriners. Died, of leukemia and a kidney infection, October 29, 1957. Entombed in mausoleum at Home of Peace Cemetery, Los Angeles, Calif.
- Cross-reference: Dore Schary
- See also: Wikipedia article; Internet Movie Database profile.
- Books about Louis B. Mayer: Charles Higham, Merchant of Dreams: Louis B. Mayer, MGM, and the Secret Hollywood; Gary Carey, All the stars in heaven : Louis B. Mayer's MGM; Diana Altman, Hollywood East: Louis B. Mayer and the Origins of the Studio System; Charles Higham, The Merchant of Dreams: A Biography of Louis B. Mayer
David Oliver Selznick (1902-1965) — also known as David O. Selznick; Oliver Jeffries — of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, Calif. Born in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pa., May 10, 1902. Son of Lewis J. Selznick (1870-1933; movie producer) and Florence A. (Sachs) Selznick; married, April 29, 1930, to Irene Gladys Mayer (1907-1990; divorced 1949) (daughter of Louis Burt Mayer); married, July 13, 1949, to Jennifer Jones (actress) (who later married Norton Winfred Simon). Republican. Movie producer and Hollywood studio head; delegate to Republican National Convention from California, 1944. Jewish. Died, of a heart attack, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Calif., June 22, 1965. Entombed in mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, Calif.
- See also: Wikipedia article; NNDB dossier; Internet Movie Database profile; Find-A-Grave page.
William Goetz (1903-1969) — of Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Calif. Born in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pa., March 24, 1903. Son of Theodore Goetz and Fanny Goetz; married, March 19, 1930, to Edith 'Edi' Mayer (daughter of Louis Burt Mayer). Democrat. Hollywood movie producer and studio executive; delegate to Democratic National Convention from California, 1956, 1960. Jewish. Died, of cancer, in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Calif., August 15, 1969. Interment at Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, Calif.
- See also: Wikipedia article; Internet Movie Database profile.
Norton Winfred Simon (1907-1993) — also known as Norton Simon; Norton Glickman — of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Calif. Born in Portland, Multnomah County, Ore., February 5, 1907. Married, February 3, 1933, to Lucille Ellis (divorced 1970); married 1971 to Jennifer (Isley) Jones (actress) (widow of David Oliver Selznick). Republican. President, Val Vita Food Products, 1931-42; subsequently president and chairman of Hunt Foods; director, Wheeling Steel Corporation, Northern Pacific Railway, and McCall's Publishing Co.; art collector; candidate in primary for U.S. Senator from California, 1970. Jewish. Died in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, Calif., June 1, 1993. Burial location unknown.
- See also: Wikipedia article; Internet Movie Database profile.

"Enjoy the hospitable entertainment of a political graveyard."
Henry L. Clinton, Apollo Hall, New York City, February 3, 1872

The Political Graveyard is a web site about U.S. political history and cemeteries. It is the Internet's most comprehensive source for American political biography, listing 192,291 politicians, living and dead.

The coverage of the site includes certain federal officials, state officeholders and candidates in all 50 states, state and national political party officials, federal and state judges, and mayors (including candidates at election for mayor) of qualifying cities.
The listings are incomplete; development of the database is a continually ongoing project.
Information on this page — and on all other pages of this site — is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed. Users are advised to check with other sources before relying on any information here.
The official URL for this page is: http://politicalgraveyard.com/families/14659.html
Links to this or any other Political Graveyard page are welcome, but specific page addresses may sometimes change as the site develops.
If you are searching for a specific individual, try the alphabetical index of politicians.
More information: FAQ; privacy policy; cemetery links.
If you find any error or omission in The Political Graveyard, or if you have information to share, please see the biographical checklist and submission guidelines.

Site information: The Political Graveyard is created and maintained by Lawrence Kestenbaum, who is solely responsible for its structure and content. — Mailing address: P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106. — The site is currently hosted by Hostmonster, but we remain grateful for a decade-plus with our former web host, Paul Haas, of Ypsilanti, Michigan. — The Political Graveyard opened on July 1, 1996; the last full revision was done on March 24, 2009.

Copyright notice: Facts are not subject to copyright; see Feist v. Rural Telephone. Original material, programming, selection and arrangement are © 1996-2009 Lawrence Kestenbaum. This work is also licensed for free non-commercial re-use, with attribution, under a Creative Commons License.