Lawrence Israel; Ex-Engineer Founded Judy’s, G.Hq. Clothing Store Chains

Lawrence Israel, co-founder with his wife, Marcia, of the Judy’s and G.Hq. clothing stores, died Thursday at his Holmby Hills home. He was 75.

He died after a two-year struggle with colon cancer, his wife said.

It was the diagnosis of that cancer in 1989, she said, that prompted the sale of their 104 stores in five Western states to the Laws Industrial Group in Hong Kong.

He was an engineer and she a bride when they opened the first Judy’s in 1946. It featured reasonably priced apparel for young women, and more stores soon opened at fashionable shopping centers in Southern California.

The immediate success led him to retire as an aerospace engineer and become president of each of the Judy’s stores and, in 1980, the G.Hq. stores for young men.

Israel was born in New York City and graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering from Columbia University. He did postgraduate work at USC and, during World War II, was an engineer at Douglas Aircraft Co.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by daughters Judith and Jane and two grandchildren.

A funeral service is scheduled Sunday at 1 p.m. at Westwood Village Mortuary. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions in his name to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for Cancer Research.