Francis Lederer - Later Life and Death

Later Life and Death

In his later life, Lederer, who had become very wealthy, invested in real estate, especially in the Canoga Park community (renamed West Hills in 1987). He was active in local and Los Angeles civic affairs, philanthropy and politics. He served as Recreation and Parks Commissioner for the City of Los Angeles, received awards for his efforts to beautify the city and was the honorary mayor of Canoga Park for quite a time. He became involved with peace movements, taught acting, and was one of the founders of the American National Academy of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, and the International Academy of Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.. In 2000, he was honored by the Austrian government with the Cross of Honor for Science and Arts, First Class.

Lederer was married three times. His wives were:

• Ada Nejedly, an opera singer; they divorced in 1928
• Margo, a Mexican movie actress (née María Marguerita Guadalupe Teresa Estela Bolado Castilla y O'Donnell). They married in 1937 and divorced in 1940. After their divorce she married actor Eddie Albert.
• Marion Eleanor Irvine, who served as Los Angeles' Commissioner of Cultural Affairs. They married in 1941.

Francis Lederer worked up until the week before he died, at the age of 100, in Palm Springs, California, one of the last surviving World War I veterans of the Austro-Hungarian Army.