OBIT: March Schwartz, Founding Publisher of the Courier

Originally posted at 7:13 p.m. Sept. 7, 2014. Updated with new details.

Funeral services will be held Sunday afternoon for March Schwartz, the founding publisher of the Beverly Hills Courier, who died Sunday at the age of 97.

The 2 p.m. service will be held in the large chapel at Hillside Memorial Park, 6001 W. Centinela Ave., with Rabbi Jerry Cutler officiating.

The Beverly Hills Courier reported that, according to his wife, Schwartz always quipped, “I prefer to be buried on a Sunday so as many people as possible -- friends and enemies alike -- may attend.”

Schwartz founded the newspaper in 1965, based on the principle of bringing Beverly Hills residents news about tax rates, schools and public services. A debilitating stroke in the early 2000s forced him to sell.

As publisher of the weekly newspaper, Schwartz joined the White House press corps in 1978 and accompanied presidents on foreign and domestic trips during the Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations.

Schwartz was born on April 9, 1917, in Philadelphia, according to his biography, published on the newspaper’s website. He stowed away on a boat to China and studied at two universities in that country, including St. John’s University in Shanghai, before the Japanese invasion.

He joined the infantry, rose to the rank of captain and became an aide to Gen. Joseph “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell in China. During World War II, Schwartz was assigned to Washington D.C. as a public relations officer for first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

After attending Southwestern University law school, he got a job with the newly formed Los Angeles Mirror, and later became its editor. After it merged with the Los Angeles Times, he became the ad sales manager for the New York Times’ West Coast edition.

For his work in Beverly Hills, he was named Man Of The Year by the Beverly Hills Education Foundation, and Citizen Of The Year by the Chamber of Commerce, according to the Courier.

Schwartz is survived by seven children, 10 grandchildren, a great- grandson and his wife since 1996, Linda.

--City News Service

PHOTO Patch file photo.