Ben Weingart was an Americanreal estate investor and developer, influential in the development of various areas of southern California, including Lakewood, California. A self-made man, Weingart became one of the richest men in California, building a fortune of nearly $100 million, and the Weingart Foundation, his philanthropic organization, has provided grants and support to many charitable causes, having granted more than $950 million in support of various Southern Californiasocial services, educational and community programs.
Early life
Ben Weingart was born Benjamin Weingarten, on September 26, 1888, in Louisville, Kentucky. At age four, Ben's German-born father died from tuberculosis, and his Russian mother passed shortly afterwards, leaving him and his two brothers orphans. Along with his brothers Harry and Max, he was raised at the Hebrew Orphans Asylum in Atlanta, Georgia until being adopted by a Christian Scientistsharecropper outside of Atlanta, near Tignall. Weingart converted to Christian Science as a child, although he supported many Jewish causes later in his life.
Career
Weingart moved to Los Angeles in 1906. Still a teenager, he delivered laundry to hotels in downtown Los Angeles. A self-built businessman, Weingart built a fortune and was a millionaire by his early twenties. Weingart was also an inventor. He built a robot that could respond to piano chords, and developed a high-speed computing counter, and registered patents for various other inventions, including a vacuum cleaner that could reach under furniture, and a novel design for a toilet paper holder. From his office at 1301 Wilshire, at the corner of Witmer, in Downtown Los Angeles, Weingart operated his real estate empire through a corporation called “Tragniew,”. Weingart owned or controlled many real estate assets, including Consolidated Hotels Corporation, a holding company that operated several modest hotels on Skid Row in Downtown L.A., as well as many shopping centers, office buildings, and more than two hundred apartment buildings throughout the city.
Personal life
Ben Weingart met Stella Shobe in Boyle Heights and they were married in Santa Ana on Monday, April 23, 1917, when Ben was 28, and Stella was 35. Stella Weingart died of acute congestive heart failure on December 29, 1957.
Weingart's health began to decline in the 1970s, and beginning in the late 1970s, his companion, Laura Winston, attracted headlines for challenging the court-ordered conservatorship that placed him under the control of three of his business associates. Winston argued that Weingart was capable of handling his own affairs. Ben Weingart died at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Downtown Los Angeles on December 22, 1980, aged 92. After his death, Laura Winston fought a protracted legal battle to win recognition as Weingart's companion and to defend her inheritance rights. Winston died February 3, 2010, aged 85.
Legacy
Several structures and organizations in Los Angeles bear Weingart's name today, including:
