Isadore Familian

Familian was born in 1911 to a Jewish family in Chicago.[1] When he was 2, his family moved to Los Angeles where his father founded Familian Pipe and Supply Co., a plumbing supply business. At the age of 16, he dropped out of Theodore Roosevelt High School to work at the family business.[1] In 1941, he became president and purchased rival Price Pfister Brass Manufacturing Company.[1] During World War II, the company, now using the Price Pfister name, shifted to military production manufacturing aircraft fittings and hand grenade shells.[2] After the war, the company focused on residential faucets, feeding the postwar housing boom.[2] Under his leadership, the company grew from 50 to 1,500 employees and became one of the largest manufacturers of brass bath and kitchen hardware in the world.[1] In 1969, Price Pfister was sold to Norris Industries with Familian continuing on as chairman of the board.[1]

The firm went through numerous ownership changes in the following years. In 1981, Norris was purchased in a leveraged buyout for $420 million by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and renamed NI Industries.[3] In 1985, NI Industries was purchased by Masco Corporation for $460 million.[3] In 1988, Masco sold its Pfister subsidiary to Emhart Corporation. In 1989, Emhart was acquired by Black & Decker Corporation. In 2010, Black & Decker merged with Stanley Works to form Stanley Black & Decker.[4] In 2012, Stanley Black & Decker sold for $1.4 billion its Hardware and Home Improvement Group, including Pfister, to Spectrum Brands Holdings Incorporated.[5]

In 1947, he, along with his wife Sunny, founded the University of Judaism in Hollywood where he served on its board of directors.[1] Familian also served on the board of directors for City of Hope National Medical Center, City National Bank, the Los Angeles Music Center, and the Jewish Community Foundation.[1] He chaired the United Jewish Welfare Fund drive for Greater Los Angeles and was active with the United Crusade and the March of Dimes.[1] In 1941, he and his brother George financed the construction of the David Familian Chapel of Temple Adat Ari El in Valley Village named in honor of their father.[1]

Familian was married twice. His first wife was Sunny Caplan (died 1979).[1] His second wife was Shirley Robbins Baskin, sister of Irv Robbins and former wife of Burt Baskin.[6] Familian died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles; services were held at Hillside Memorial Park.[1] Familian was survived by two biological children, Sondra Familian Smalley and Gary Familian; and two step children, Edie Baskin Bronson (married to Richard "Skip" Bronson) and Richard Baskin.[1]