Walter H. "Tim" Leimert Jr.

LEIMERT, Jr., Walter H. "Tim" Tim died on January 21, 2004 in Los Angeles, CA. His wife Judith Hane Leimert and his son, Walter Leimert, III, were at his bedside when he peacefully passed on. He is also survived by his other son, Norman Leimert of Chico, CA, three grandsons, two stepsons, and seven step grandchildren. Born on August 2, 1921, in Oakland, California, Tim moved to Los Angeles as a toddler and lived in the city all his life. During World War II, he was a CBS radio war correspondent covering the Pacific theater. He flew on the first B-29 bombing raid over Tokyo, and he was the only correspondent with Admiral William Halsey during the second battle of the Philippine Sea. As documented in an exhibit in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C., his airborne broadcast was the first on-scene report of the aftermath of the Hiroshima nuclear strike. After the war, Tim went into the family real estate business and developed a variety of residential and commercial projects, including a number in the "Leimert Park" area of Los Angeles. A graduate of U.C.L.A., he was the in-stadium announcer for Bruin football for 38 years. In his later years, Tim was a pilot, a painter, a writer, and a semi-professional curmudgeon. He managed to consistently expand his horizons, minimize his own faults, and blissfully overlook the frailties and complaints of family and friends. Everyone who knew him will miss him very much. Inurnment services will be private in Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, CA, where his grandfather purchased a family plot in 1891. A memorial service will be held later in the Spring. The family has suggested that memorial contributions may be made to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, Washington D.C. or the Pacific Legal Foundation, Sacramento, CA.