Beatrice Gersh

Beatrice Gersh, a philanthropist and pioneering force in the Los Angeles contemporary art community for more than a half-century and the wife of Gersh agency founder Phil Gersh, died in October 2011. She was 87. Gersh, the mother of current agency co-presidents David and Bob Gersh, died Sunday of natural causes surrounded by family at her home in Los Angeles. Phil Gersh, who established the firm in 1949, died in May 2004 at age 92. Beatrice Gersh was part of a small group that in 1979 which began the crusade to build the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. The couple began accumulating art in the 1950s and were among the first collectors of modern and contemporary art in Los Angeles. They supported several prominent art institutions and served on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Modern and Contemporary Art Council for many years. In addition to sons David and Bob and their wives Susan and Linda, Gersh is survived by her brothers Charles and Leon Aberle and her grandchildren Steven and his wife Christy, Laura, Jessica, Billy and Annie.