S. Bretzfield, Aide to Yorty, Dies at Age 62
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Samuel Bretzfield, a businessman who chaired the 1972 presidential campaign of then-Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty and a leading fund-raiser in Yorty’s 1969 and 1973 mayoral reelection campaigns, has died at 62 of complications after surgery.
Bretzfield, who died Thursday in a Los Angeles hospital, served as the honorary consul of Bangladesh in the 11 Western states from 1978 on and was a member of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee. For several years, he was president of California Fashion Creators, a group of manufacturers who promoted California clothing.
In World War II, he served in the U.S. Army, was captured by the Germans and was held for a year and a half in Nazi prisoner of war camps. Among his military decorations was the Purple Heart .
Although he had long served Yorty both politically and in developing Los Angeles’ sister cities projects, associates said that in later years, after Mayor Tom Bradley defeated Yorty, Bretzfield raised funds to assist Bradley reelection campaigns.
Bretzfield is survived by his wife, Nancy Czar, a former U.S. figure-skating champion, and two sons and a daughter.
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