Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson (April 12, 1918 – June 21, 2005) was an American fashion consultant, businesswoman and philanthropist. She was a corporate director of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

and the

Fluor Corporation Fluor Corporation is an American engineering and construction firm, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a holding company that provides services through its subsidiaries in three main areas: oil and gas, industrial and infrastructure, government ...

. She served as Chairman of the

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (informally referred to as the San Francisco Fed) is the Federal Reserve, federal bank for the twelfth district in the United States. The twelfth district is made up of nine western U.S. state, states— ...

from 1981 to 1984. She founded the

Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA, ) is a visual and performing arts high school located on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is a public school, ...

and was a trustee of the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

Early life

Caroline Leonetti was born on April 12, 1918, in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

.Mary Rourke
Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson, 83; Philanthropist Supported the Arts
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', July 23, 2005Appointment of Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson as a Member of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
The American Presidency Project, August 21, 1984 She graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

and the California School of Design in San Francisco.Associated Press
Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson; prominent Southern California philanthropist; 83
''

U-T San Diego ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'', June 25, 2005

Career

Ahmanson started her career as a fashion consultant on the radio and in television, including

Art Linkletter Arthur Gordon Linkletter (born Gordon Arthur Kelly or Arthur Gordon Kelly; sources differ; July 17, 1912 – May 26, 2010) was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of '' House Party'', which ran on CBS radio ...

's program.David Wise, ''Tiger Trap: America's Secret Spy War with China'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011, p. 3

/ref> In 1945, she founded Caroline Leonetti Ltd., a modeling agency in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles.Kenneth Reich
Caroline Ahmanson 1st L.A. Woman Rotarian
''Los Angeles Times'', August 13, 1987 It was purchased by Raphael Berko in 1987 and renamed Media Artists Group. From 1981 to 1984, she served as Chairman of the

.Leonard Sloane
BUSINESS PEOPLE; Fed Names Women As Bank Chairmen
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', December 16, 1981 She served on the Boards of Directors of

(), the

() and

Carter Hawley Hale Stores Broadway Stores, Inc., was an American retailer based in Southern California. Known through its history as Carter Hawley Hale Stores and Broadway Hale Stores over time, it acquired other retail store chains in regions outside its California home b ...

(later known as

Broadway Stores Broadway Stores, Inc., was an American retailer based in Southern California. Known through its history as Carter Hawley Hale Stores and Broadway Hale Stores over time, it acquired other retail store chains in regions outside its California home b ...

). She also served on the City of Los Angeles Economic Advisory Council. Additionally, she served as Senior Vice Chairman of the

Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce is Southern California's largest not-for-profit business federation, representing the interests of more than 235,000 businesses in L.A. County, more than 1,400 member companies and more than 722,430 emplo ...

Philanthropy

Ahmanson served on the National Advisory Council of the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

. She was appointed by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

to serve on the

National Committee on United States–China Relations The National Committee on United States China Relations (NCUSCR) is a nonprofit organization and advisory body founded in 1966 to encourage understanding and cooperation between the United States and the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 19 ...

, and was Vice Chairman. In this capacity, she helped the Chinese government better understand about caring for the disabled.Norton Wheeler, ''The Role of American NGOs in China's Modernization: Invited Influence'', Routledge, 2012, p. 3

/ref> A dinner conversation she had with

Deng Pufang Deng Pufang () (born 16 April 1944) is a Chinese politician, who is the eldest son of former Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.Pearson, Veronica. Royal College of Psychiatrists. 995(1995). RCPsych Publications. . p. 88 He is mostly known fo ...

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...

's son, led to a research trip sponsored by the National Committee and a meeting between Deng and President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

(when he was President) in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

to talk about better treatment of the disabled. She was a co-founder of the Los Angeles-

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

Sister City Committee, serving as its Chairman; she and appointed Katrina Leung as its President. Later, she was appointed by President Reagan to serve on the

President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) was an advisory committee to the President of the United States on cultural issues. It works directly with the White House and the three primary cultural agencies: the National End ...

. She was also appointed to the National Council on the Humanities and the California Arts Commission.Bridget Byrnes
Singing the Praises of Caroline Ahmanson
''Los Angeles Times'', January 28, 1998 She then served on the President's Council of the

Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and burial site of Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States (1969–1974), and his wife Pat Nixon. Located in Yorba Linda, California, on land ...

Yorba Linda, California Yorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, United States, approximately southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and had a population of 68,336 at the 2020 United States ...

. She became the first female member of the Rotary Club of Los Angeles in 1987, having received its Distinguished Citizen of the Year award in 1985. She served as vice chairman of the board of directors of the

Los Angeles World Affairs Council The Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall (LAWACTH), the Los Angeles office within the national network of World Affairs Councils of America, is a non-profit, non-partisan organization which arranges speaker events, debates, seminars, and ...

. In 1985, she founded the

in Los Angeles. She later served on the board of trustees of the

(LACMA) and the

Los Angeles Music Center The Los Angeles Music Center (officially the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Located in downtown Los Angeles, The Music Center is composed of the Dorothy Chandler Pa ...

. She was a recipient of the Phoenix Award from the

USC Pacific Asia Museum USC Pacific Asia Museum is an Asian art museum located at 46 N. Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, California, United States. The museum was founded in 1971 by the Pacificulture Foundation, which purchased "The Grace Nicholson Treasure House of Orient ...

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. She established the Los Angeles Music Center's Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson Endowment Fund for Arts Education as a result of a charity dinner which raised $450,000 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in January, 1998. She served as Vice Chair of the Los Angeles Music Center Education Division from 1979 to 1998. She also co-hosted fundraisers for

The Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

.Bea Maxwell
'Celebrate the Children' Gala Nets $96,000 for Salvation Army
''Los Angeles Times'', March 26, 1992

Personal life

Ahmanson married her first husband, Bernhardt Paul Heim (1917–2007), in 1940. They had a daughter, Margo O'Connell. In 1965, Ahmanson married husband Howard F. Ahmanson Sr., the founder of H.F. Ahmanson & Co., an insurance and savings and loan company. She became a widow when he died in 1968, and moved into a penthouse suite at the

Beverly Wilshire Hotel The Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, commonly known as the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, is a historic luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Located at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, it was completed in 1928. It ha ...

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...

Death

She died of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

-related complications on Tuesday, June 21, 2005 in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 87.

Legacy

*The

Ahmanson Theatre The Ahmanson Theatre is one of the four main venues that compose the Los Angeles Music Center. Shows at this theater are produced by Center Theatre Group. History The theatre was built as a result of a donation from Howard F. Ahmanson Sr, the ...

in Los Angeles was named in her honor. *The Leonetti/O'Connell Family Foundation, formerly known as the Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson Foundation, was founded in 1993.Leonetti/O'Connell Family Foundation: About

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonetti Ahmanson, Caroline American corporate directors 1918 births 2005 deaths American women corporate directors Directors of The Walt Disney Company Federal Reserve Bank people Ahmanson, Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson, Caroline Leonetti Businesspeople from San Francisco Philanthropists from San Francisco Businesspeople from Beverly Hills, California San Francisco Art Institute alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Deaths from dementia in California Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in California Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)