Phil Gersh

The Billionaires (as estimated by Forbes magazine) Meet the billionaires in our online interactive by clicking here , or on the link to the left . High-p rofile trustees Steven Mnuchin is chief executive of OneWest Bank, the largest bank in Southern California. His father is art dealer Robert Mnuchin, a former investment banker who is a partner in the L&M Arts galleries in Manhattan and Venice, Calif. Edward Minskoff and Charles Cohen are two leading New York-based real estate figures.

The Billionaires (as estimated by Forbes magazine) Meet the billionaires in our online interactive by clicking here , or on the link to the left . High-p rofile trustees Steven Mnuchin is chief executive of OneWest Bank, the largest bank in Southern California. His father is art dealer Robert Mnuchin, a former investment banker who is a partner in the L&M Arts galleries in Manhattan and Venice, Calif. Edward Minskoff and Charles Cohen are two leading New York-based real estate figures.

Phil Gersh, an old-school Hollywood agent who ran his namesake agency for more than five decades and represented everyone from Humphrey Bogart and Zero Mostel to Robert Wise and Arthur Hiller, has died. He was 92. Gersh, who with his wife, Beatrice, was one of America's leading private collectors of modern and contemporary art, died Monday of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills, according to his family.

Beatrice Gersh, a distinguished art collector and patron of the arts in Los Angeles for more than half a century who played a significant role in the founding of the Museum of Contemporary Art, has died. She was 87. Gersh, the widow of Hollywood talent agent Phil Gersh, died Sunday of natural causes at her home in Los Angeles, said a family spokeswoman. Gersh and her husband, who died in 2004, began collecting art in the 1950s and were among the first collectors of modern and contemporary art in Los Angeles.

In his more than 60 years as an agent, Phil Gersh has had a host of famous clients, among them David Niven, Fredric March, Mary Astor, Lee J. Cobb, Gloria Grahame, Dorothy McGuire, Zero Mostel and James Mason. But the agent is perhaps best known for his handling of Humphrey Bogart in the 1950s, an association that led to some of the actor's most memorable screen roles.

Beatrice Gersh, a distinguished art collector and patron of the arts in Los Angeles for more than half a century who played a significant role in the founding of the Museum of Contemporary Art, has died. She was 87. Gersh, the widow of Hollywood talent agent Phil Gersh, died Sunday of natural causes at her home in Los Angeles, said a family spokeswoman. Gersh and her husband, who died in 2004, began collecting art in the 1950s and were among the first collectors of modern and contemporary art in Los Angeles.

If client longevity is a testament to what makes a great agent, you might wish to note that Phil Gersh brokered the versatile Robert Wise's deals from when Wise edited "Citizen Kane" (1941) to the director-producer's final picture, "A Storm in Summer" (2000)--a Hollywood record unlikely to be surpassed ("A Player Then and Now," by Charles Dennis, April 21). THOM TAYLOR Los Angeles Let me get this straight: According to Phil Gersh, God took agent Bert Allenberg in order to punish David Niven for dumping Phil Gersh.

Beverly Hills is getting artier and artier. Last month, the PaceWildenstein gallery arrived in town. On Tuesday night, it was the opening--or rather the return of--the Gagosian Gallery. Principal Larry Gagosian had closed the doors on his L.A. contemporary art gallery 10 years ago and moved to New York. He marked his return to an airy, Richard Meier-designed space on Camden Drive with a two-tiered bash--700 for cocktails in the gallery, 210 for dinner at Mr. Chow.

Philosophy was much in evidence at a luncheon Wednesday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel as the Museum of Contemporary Art gave its first "Distinguished Women in the Arts" award to Beatrice Gersh. On the award was inscribed: "It is in your own self-interest to find a way to be very tender."

Never mind that Mayor Richard Riordan graduated from Princeton ('52). When UCLA's biggest guns prevailed upon him to loan his glorious Brentwood estate (think Hotel Bel-Air and squint and you have an idea) for one evening, he was all Bruin. Though there was a lofty purpose to Sunday's party--the inauguration of the UCLA Humanities Consortium, which will integrate three of the university's major research centers--there was no question that Riordan's home was a major draw.

Phil Gersh, an old-school Hollywood agent who ran his namesake agency for more than five decades and represented everyone from Humphrey Bogart and Zero Mostel to Robert Wise and Arthur Hiller, has died. He was 92. Gersh, who with his wife, Beatrice, was one of America's leading private collectors of modern and contemporary art, died Monday of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills, according to his family.

If client longevity is a testament to what makes a great agent, you might wish to note that Phil Gersh brokered the versatile Robert Wise's deals from when Wise edited "Citizen Kane" (1941) to the director-producer's final picture, "A Storm in Summer" (2000)--a Hollywood record unlikely to be surpassed ("A Player Then and Now," by Charles Dennis, April 21). THOM TAYLOR Los Angeles Let me get this straight: According to Phil Gersh, God took agent Bert Allenberg in order to punish David Niven for dumping Phil Gersh.

In his more than 60 years as an agent, Phil Gersh has had a host of famous clients, among them David Niven, Fredric March, Mary Astor, Lee J. Cobb, Gloria Grahame, Dorothy McGuire, Zero Mostel and James Mason. But the agent is perhaps best known for his handling of Humphrey Bogart in the 1950s, an association that led to some of the actor's most memorable screen roles.

"Well, something really wonderful happened this week," Bill Kieschnick declared at dinner Thursday night. "We hung a show and the artist liked it." Kieschnick, chairman of the board at the Museum of Contemporary Art, looked across the table in Spago's back room at a beaming David Salle. From looking around the room, it was clear that everybody liked what was going on at MOCA. Crowded into the Sunset Strip spot were MOCA regulars like Fred and Joan Nicholas (just back from Paris, etc.

The biggest fashion news from the much-heralded and living-up-to-its-billing Giorgio Armani party at the Museum of Contemporary Art: Bob Zimmerman of Hibbing, Minn., showed up wearing an Angora knit hat. That's right, Zimmerman, better known as Bob Dylan, there amid black-tie glitz and the shimmery white setting in MOCA's South Gallery.