Ruth Von Platen

Born in California on October 15, 1897, Ruth Chandler Williamson Boswell was the daughter of Harry Chandler, a member of the pioneer Los Angeles family, one-time president of the Times-Mirror Company, and publisher of the Los Angeles Times. Ruth Chandler Williamson was the widow of Frederick Warren Williamson, a prominent Los Angeles attorney, who had died suddenly at the age of 44 in 1942. In 1956 Ruth married Sir William Charles Crocker, Baronet of Seal Chart, Seven Oaks, Kent, England. Names on the title to the San Marino property changed to Ruth Chandler Crocker and Harrison Gray Otis Chandler (Ruth’s younger brother) in 1966. At that time, Lot 1 of Tract 11644 was re-subdivided, becoming the six-lot Tract 16870 (see Attachment 5). The original house occupied Lot 1; Lot 2 was south along Oak Grove and remained part of the estate; Lot 3 was owned by Otis Booth, Ruth Chandler Crocker’s nephew, and Lots 4, 5, and 6 along Rosalind Road were owned by Norman B. (Tad) Williamson, Ruth Chandler Crocker’s son. After the death of Sir William Crocker in 1973 at the age of 87, his widow married again in 1983 at the age of 85. Her new husband was Karl Godfrey von Platen, a native of Michigan who was a Yale graduate and retired lumberman. Mrs. Von Platen died on December 10, 1987, at the age of 90.

Obituaries : Philanthropist, Granddaughter of Times Founder : Ruth Chandler von Platen Dies at 90

Ruth Chandler von Platen, a quiet philanthropist who donated significantly to medical and educational institutions in California and Arizona, died Thursday at age 90.

The last surviving child of Harry Chandler, second publisher of the Los Angeles Times, Mrs. von Platen died in Huntington Hospital in Pasadena a few days after suffering a heart attack.