James I. Getzoff

December 3, 1921 - September 20, 2015 Jimmy Getzoff passed away peacefully in his home in Marina del Rey. Jimmy was a child prodigy, giving his first concert at the age of 6. At the age of 18 he became the youngest member of the L.A. Philharmonic. He continued his symphonic work as concertmaster of the Glendale Symphony under Carmen Dragon for 25 years. The bulk of his work, however, was working commercially in Hollywood. He worked as violinist or concertmaster at all of the major motion picture studios. He has been concertmaster for Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Barbra Streiand, the Carpenters, David Gates, and Neil Diamond, among many others. He worked with top Hollywood arranger/conductors including Nelson Riddle, Van Alexander, Billy May, Tom Newman, Steve Dorff, Don Costa, Ralph Carmichael, and Marty Paitch. Jimmy Getzoff was a major figure in the Hollywood musical community, highly respected and well liked by his colleagues. He set a goal to experience all the musical challenges that Hollywood had to offer and he can say he did it all. Jimmy is survived by his wife, Paula Getzoff of 44 years, his daughter and husband Janice and Jeffrey Rakoff, his grandchildren David and Lea Rakoff, and Anne and David Kressel, nieces and nephews, wonderful caregivers and many friends. Services will be held on Thursday, September 24th at Hillside Memorial Cemetery at 1:00pm. In lieu of flowers please donate to the charity of your choice.