Herbert Gelfand

1931 - 2025

June 6, 1931 - April 27, 2025 Herbert "Herb" Michael Gelfand, 93, departed this world peacefully at his home on April 27, 2025, with his beloved wife of seven decades at his side.
Born in Detroit, Michigan on June 6, 1931, to Julius and Helen Gelfand, Herb and his family relocated to Los Angeles in 1949. A man of intellect and determination, he attended UCLA before earning his law degree from Loyola Law School and gaining admission to the California Bar in 1955.
Herb was a self-made man. While he began his career as a promising attorney, Herb's visionary business acumen led him to become a pion in real estate syndication, specializing in waterfront mobile home communities. His enterprise grew to encompass over forty properties spanning seven states, managing more than 12,000 spaces and earning the trust of 13,000 investors. In the industries he helped to shape, his name became synonymous with integrity and strategic insight.
Beyond his remarkable professional achievements, Herb embodied the highest ideals of civic responsibility and philanthropy. Herb worked tirelessly to strengthen community bonds and advance humanitarian causes through his involvement as Chairman of the United Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, and work with Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Israeli Bonds, Israel Tennis Center, the Weizmann Institute, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Beit T'Shuvah, and Brandeis-Bardin. His enthusiastic appreciation for culture and the arts manifested in his leadership roles with prestigious organizations including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, American Youth Symphony, the Geffen Playhouse, and the Music Center, where his guidance helped ensure these bastions of creativity would endure for future generations.
Herb leaves behind an enduring legacy carried forward by his wife of 71 years, Beverly; his children and their spouses Michael and Laurie Gelfand, Deborah and John Judie, and Teddi and Mike Silverman; his grandchildren and their spouses Jacob Gelfand and Joely Pritzker, Nethaniel Gelfand and Danielle Peloquin, Jonah Gelfand, Rachel and JP Dolphin, and Karen and Nick Codd; and his great-grandchildren Solomon, Elyse, and Dylan; and preceded in death by his beloved granddaughter Melanie.
Funeral services commemorating his extraordinary life will be held at Mount Sinai Memorial Park (at 5950 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles) on Friday, May 2nd, 2025, at 10:00 am.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the charity of your choice in Herb's memory, or Children's Hospital Los Angeles Melanie Silverman Bone and Soft Tissue Endowment Fund, or the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
The world has lost a visionary of unwavering principle, a committed advocate for peace in the Middle East, a patron of the arts that appreciated beauty in all its forms, and a man extraordinarily devoted to his family. Though Herb has passed from our midst, for generations to come his wisdom, his compassion and profound generosity will resonate through the countless lives he touched and the institutions he strengthened.