Leonard Friedman started each day for 67 years by bringing his wife a freshly cut rose from their garden.
Known as “Lenny,” Friedman was a romantic who proposed to his wife on their first date and consistently sent her letters during his service in World War II.
After returning from the war, Friedman and his late wife Sarah Friedman married and moved from Chicago to Los Angeles, where they co-founded one of the oldest merchant businesses in Westwood – Sarah Leonard Fine Jewelers – in 1946. Originally Crescent Jewelers, the store was renamed in 1998.
Lenny Friedman, a longtime supporter of UCLA and the Westwood community, died Feb. 7 of natural causes. He was 95.
Friedman’s family and close friends knew him as a hardworking and giving man who could light up a room with his bright smile and positive attitude.
“He just set a perfect example of taking the good in everything and making It even better,” said Dean Abell, Friedman’s grandson and a UCLA alumnus.
Abell, who is now one of the owners of Sarah Leonard Fine Jewelers, said Friedman would always tell customers that simple jewelry repairs and cleaning cost just “a smile and a thank you.”
Friedman’s goal was to always make a friend when a customer walked into the store, Abell said.
Steve Sann, the chair of the Westwood Community Council and a friend of Friedman’s for the past 35 years, said he first met Friedman while attending UCLA as an undergraduate in the 1980s.
Whenever Sann would go into the jewelry store to purchase a Mother’s Day gift or a new watch, he was impressed with Friedman’s warmth and outstanding customer service, he said.
“When you walked into the store, they made you feel like a family member,” Sann said. “They would greet you with a smile and would remember your name.”
Friedman cared about his customers as well as students at UCLA, Sann said.
Sann said he would ask Friedman and his wife to donate to various clubs he was involved in, and Friedman would always say, “Yes, it’s our pleasure,” without hesitation.
“Leonard Friedman was never too busy to roll up his sleeves to serve, to volunteer, or to provide leadership for the betterment of Westwood Village,” Sann said. “He led by example of always being one of the first to raise his hand and say, ‘I want to help.’”
Philip Gabriel, owner and operator of Scrubs Unlimited on Weyburn Avenue, said he first met Friedman in the mid-1980s while opening a bookstore in Westwood.
Friedman’s customer service techniques were influential to the development of Gabriel’s own business practices, he said.
Gabriel said he would visit Friedman twice a week and sit on a stool at the back of the store for a couple of hours to study the way Friedman interacted with his customers and family.
After studying Friedman, Gabriel adopted some of his customer service techniques, such as greeting customers, and learned how to further serve his clients by offering them amenities such as coffee or tea.
Friedman welcomed all businesses to Westwood in addition to providing a friendly atmosphere for his own customers, said Wendy Shane, one of the owners of Shanes Jewelry, a family-run Westwood jewelry store.
Shane met Friedman in 1970 when Shanes Jewelry first opened in Westwood, she said. Friedman visited the business to welcome her family into the neighborhood and wish them luck even though her jewelry store was a competing business, Shane added.
Friedman was always active within the Westwood community and held various leadership positions through the years, Sann said.
He served as president of the American Gem Society – Southern California Guild and the Westwood Chamber of Commerce, and was actively involved in the Westwood Kiwanis Club and the Westwood Village Rotary Club for more than 50 years, Abell said.
Friedman and his wife were also elected into the National Jeweler Retailer Hall of Fame in 1994, Abell added.
“Leonard Friedman was the patriarch of our Westwood Village business community,” Sann said. “He provided extraordinary leadership.”
Friedman is survived by his children, Linda Abell, David Friedman and Don Friedman, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Sarah Friedman, who was known as “Sunny,” passed away last year.
The Westwood Village Rotary Club will be accepting donations in Friedman’s honor. There will be a closed memorial for Friedman Sunday.