E. Russell Werdin; Paving Firm President, USC Leader

E. Russell Werdin, 89, paving company president and USC leader. Werdin owned and operated the Los Angeles Paving Co., started in 1912 by his father, Ernest Werdin. Over the years, the firm paved many of the streets of Los Angeles, including Sunset Boulevard, and Werdin Place in downtown’s garment district was named for it. The Werdins also contracted with universities to pave drives and plazas and with Hollywood studios for such projects as making the cobblestones for the film “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” starring Charles Laughton. Werdin, who graduated from USC with a degree in commerce in 1932, served as president of the USC Alumni Assn. and a member of the university’s Board of Trustees. He was also president of both the Vernon and Carson Chambers of Commerce, active in the Rotary Club for 63 years and a member of the Shriners’ Royal Order of Jesters in the Al Malaikah Temple of Los Angeles for 57 years. On Sunday in Newport Beach of respiratory failure.