Galpin Motors' longtime vice president, admired civic leader Karl Boeckmann dies at 85 - LA Daily News

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Karl Boeckmann, a much-admired San Fernando Valley civic and business leader, has died at age 85, his family confirmed on Thursday, Aug. 5.

The pioneering businessman passed away peacefully on Wednesday, surrounded by his wife Thyra and family following an eight-year battle with cancer, according to the family.

Karl Boeckmann

His career spanned decades while working at Galpin Motors, helping his brother, Bert, as the company’s vice president of all dealerships.

“Over his lifetime, Karl built a legacy of dedication, hard work, integrity, leadership and community involvement. Both he and Thyra have volunteered an immeasurable amount of time and energy to a variety of worthy causes,” Galpin said in a statement.

Bert Boeckmann’s wife, Galpin Motors’ longtime first lady, Jane Boeckmann, passed away in May, at age 90.

Karl Boeckmann was born in 1935 in Glendale to parents Herbert F. and Jewell A. Boeckmann.

After graduating from Hoover High School, he received an AA degree from Glendale College and in 1957 earned his Bachelor’s degree of Science in Accounting at the University of Southern California.

In 1965, his bother Bert was moving the Galpin dealership from San Fernando to its current location in North Hills. Boeckmann joined the company, eventually becoming the vice president of all Galpin dealerships.

“For the last 56 years, Karl played an instrumental role in Galpin’s overall success,” Galpin Motors said in a statement.

Boeckmann was a recipient of multiple honors and awards, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the One Generation Hearts Across the Valley award, the Philanthropist of the Year and in 2004 was presented with the Fernando Award for outstanding community leadership and service.

Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, said “Karl Boeckmann was a giant. His community activism and charitable support were without equal. There is a giant hole in the Valley right now.”

Martin M. Cooper, a San Fernando Valley historian and author who has served on several boards in the area, remembered Boeckmann as a mover and shaker, but also as someone who often worked behind the scenes to promote civic causes and philanthropy.

He admired Boeckmann’s fierce devotion to community service, which is hard to come by these days, he said.

“Karl represents the passing of a generation that believed in philanthropy and community service — and sharing the pot of considerable wealth his family amassed in the automobile business,” Cooper said. In contrast to his brother, Bert — who became sole owner of the business in 1968, after it moved from San Fernando to Roscoe Boulevard — Karl was the quiet one, said Cooper, himself a student of the evolution of the San Fernando Valley.

“Bert was Mr. Outside and Karl was Mr. Inside,” he said. But it made them perfect “teammates,” as the business grew, and it would allow the “quiet and unassuming” Karl to venture into civic causes.

Cooper remembered a particular moment in recent years when the board of the Fernando Award Foundation — a civic organization that recognizes volunteerism in the Valley — was considering whether it could afford to hand out scholarships to high school students, part of a tradition of promoting community service among young people.

“Karl stepped up and said, ‘you know what, I’ll underwrite it because it’s important to keep doing this,’” Cooper said.

But he did it in a way that didn’t make a fuss, Cooper noted.

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