Obituaries : Harry Krupnick; Businessman, Philanthropist

Harry Krupnick, a San Fernando Valley businessman and real estate executive who donated his energies and more than $1 million to promote education and the arts for people ranging from teenagers to senior citizens, has died. He was 87.

Krupnick died Sept. 10 of a heart attack during a cruise on China’s Yangtze River, according to his friend David Geffen.

Last year, to honor his wife, Belle, who died in January 1998, Krupnick donated $500,000 to build the Belle and Harry Krupnick Adult Day Health Care and Mental Health Center at the Jewish Family Service Center in North Hollywood.

Adamantly opposed to seniors “stagnating in front of the TV,” Krupnick helped create the center to offer health services and education workshops on such issues as loneliness, physical illness and loss.

“It’s possible for people to grow through self-knowledge at any age,” Krupnick told The Times when the center opened a year ago.

Earlier, Krupnick and his wife were founding members of the Los Angeles Valley College Patrons Assn. and together contributed $500,000 for the Belle and Harry Krupnick Media Arts Academy. That institution has provided education and training for those working in the entertainment industry.

Krupnick also funded scholarship and grant programs and an essay contest to reward excellence in geography, English, journalism and culture.

He was a major supporter of the Puente Program to prevent Latino youth from dropping out of school, and of the National Yiddish Book Center to help preserve written and spoken Yiddish. His donations also helped fund arts programs for emotionally disturbed teenagers through the Cultural, Academic Recreational Enrichment (CARE) program jointly sponsored by the Los Angeles County departments of Mental Health, Children’s Services and Probation, and the Music Center.

The philanthropist contributed his time as well as money, spending countless hours reading books for Recording for the Blind.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Russian immigrant parents, Krupnick grew up in New York’s Hudson River Valley and followed his father into the clothing business. His early education included Hebrew and Yiddish and instruction in his Jewish heritage. He studied English literature, philosophy and German at New York University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa.

After his 1940 marriage to Belle Garland, Krupnick started a garment business in New Bedford, Mass. The couple came to Los Angeles in 1952, and after a few more years in the garment trade, Krupnick started a real estate brokerage and property management and development firm.

By the time he retired in the 1970s, Krupnick had built four apartment buildings in Sherman Oaks.

Geffen said a memorial service will be planned at a later date.