Obituaries : Christene Witter; TV Writer, Film Publicist, Philanthropist
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Christene Allen Witter, a philanthropist, film publicist and one of the first women to produce and write for television in Los Angeles, died Thursday at a San Francisco hospital. The widow of William M. Witter, former chairman of Dean Witter & Co., was believed to be in her 60s and died of an apparent stroke.
A one-time publicist for Samuel Goldwyn Productions whose special charge was the fabled Goldwyn Girls of musical fame, Mrs. Witter wrote and produced the old “Hello Again” Pacific Telephone show on the West Coast in the early days of television.
In 1954 she married Witter--who died in 1984--and they moved to Chicago where she became chairman of the Metropolitan Opera auditions for that city. She assumed a similar role in San Francisco when the Witters moved there in 1969 and where the couple endowed a William M. Witter Foundation for Pain Research at UC Medical Center.
She is survived by two sisters and a brother.
A memorial service will be held Tuesday in San Francisco’s Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church.
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