Armin H. Wittenberg III

May 19, 1946 - May 14, 2024 Armin Wittenberg III of Beverly Hills, CA, passed away quietly on May 14, a few days short of his 78th birthday, of complications from a previous medical issue.
Armin was born in Los Angeles, CA to Gertrude (Trudy) Holzman Wittenberg and Armin H. Wittenberg Jr. (Bud). He attended Black-Foxe Military Institute, graduated Beverly Hills High School where he swam competitively, and attended USC. His nickname was Topper, as in the name of Hopalong Cassidy's horse. As a young man, Armin joined the Coastguard. The Coast Guard and sailing with his parents, enhanced his love of the ocean and sailing.
Armin was very bright, and possessed an uncanny photographic memory for numbers. He could look at months of financial documents and recall everything clearly, as he rolled the images back and forth in his mind like a film, which helped him in his chosen field of business. Armin always enjoyed making and closing deals.
In his younger years, he worked in the Entertainment Industry. He tried to follow in the footsteps of his maternal Grandfather, Ben Holzman who was renowned at the William Morris Agency. In those days one had to be short to work at William Morris, so Armin, being 6'2" by age 14, was not a candidate to work there. Hence Armin started work in the mail room at Universal. He then moved on to becoming an agent at the boutique Paul Kohner Agency whose client list included Liv Ullman, and Robert Mitchum among others. Later he joined the Ashley-Famous talent agency, working with musical groups and vocalists such as Earth Wind and Fire, Johhny Rivers, and Bobbie Gentry. As an avid dancer, he always gave credit to Maurice White the founder, main songwriter and co-lead singer of Earth Wind and Fire, for teaching him how to dance.
Professionally, he then moved to New York City to work in corporate entertainment at Warner Communications as the Assistant to CEO Steven J. Ross. After a number of years living amongst skyscrapers, Armin returned home to Los Angeles.
In later years, Armin enjoyed working as a realtor with Coldwell Banker in Beverly Hills.
Armin found the love of his life, Patricia (Parker) on his one and only blind date. And Patricia found the love of her life, Armin, on her one and only blind date. Married 43 years, they enjoyed giving stylish dinner parties, traveling in the U.S. and abroad, horseback riding, being out in nature, or doing nothing together. He loved the Christmas season, hosting parties with Patricia, and buying an over-abundance of Christmas ornaments.
One of Armin's major avocations throughout his life, was restoring, showing classic cars and participating in classic car tours. He was a founder of the Canadian Rockies Tour in 2003 which covered 1300 miles in 5 days. From a young age, he and his father restored cars and traveled to classic car shows, including the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance when it was a smaller affair than it is now. Patricia joined him on a number of car tours.
His other love became cats. Although originally a "dog person", after meeting Patricia and the first cat, he enjoyed living with a number of cats through the years.
Armin was known as a well-dressed, very upbeat, optimistic and generous individual, with a big heart, who very much enjoyed people and met them with a ready megawatt smile, and big beautiful brown eyes that sparkled like diamonds in the sun. Although he had some interruptions in his life from medical challenges, he met them straight on with optimism, stating he simply worked with the cards he was dealt, and continued to move forward.
Armin is survived by his wife, Patricia, his sister, Wendy Friedland, numerous nieces and nephews, and cat Quincy.
Contributions to his memory may be made to Huntington Gardens, Los Angeles Mission, or Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.
Family and friends will miss his very fast wit, and his cheerful, warm and playful personality.