Albert Eyraud; Mass Transit Executive

Albert J. Eyraud Jr., a veteran transportation official who pioneered efforts to obtain rapid transit systems in Southern California, has died at 83.

Eyraud, a third-generation Los Angeles native, died Thursday in his Los Angeles home of acute respiratory failure, his wife, Sherry, said Tuesday. She said he had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for the last two years but had enjoyed a Christmas Eve dinner at their home with 50 relatives and friends.

The head of Asbury Transportation Co., Eyraud was named to the Metropolitan Transit Authority by Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown Sr. in 1959 and served as its chairman from 1960 to 1964. During that tenure he met frequently with President John F. Kennedy and lobbied Congress and the state Legislature for funds to build a subway and other rapid transit systems in Los Angeles.

Failing in its efforts, the transit agency was dissolved and replaced by the Southern California Rapid Transit District, which operated a bus system. In 1966, Los Angeles County supervisors appointed Eyraud to the RTD board, and he was elected president in 1967.

“It’s like old times--the same old traffic problems, only much worse,” he said then. “The traffic situation here--without rapid transit--looks bad. I am afraid downtown is going to turn into one concrete driveway and parking lot unless we do something about it.”

His wife said Eyraud enjoyed seeing the Los Angeles subway opened more than three decades after he first advocated it, but lamented the financial cost of the long delay.

A graduate of Los Angeles High School and UCLA, Eyraud in his youth worked as a roustabout in the Ventura oil fields. He began a career as a journalist, first as a sports editor and then city editor of the now-defunct Los Angeles Record.

When he married Ruth Asbury, he began working for her father, Frank Asbury, in his transit company and eventually became president of Asbury System, which included Asbury Transportation Co. and Asbury Contractors Inc. The marriage, which ended in divorce, produced three sons, Frank and twins Stephen and David, who both died as young men.

The trucking executive became president of the Motor Truck Assn. of Southern California and prided himself on uniting truckers from Northern and Southern California.

Eyraud, who retired four years ago, also served as a director of Farmers Insurance Co. for 39 years.

He was a major fund-raiser and worker for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Music Center, the American Cancer Society, the USC Norris Cancer Center and the American Heart Assn. He was also active in the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Eyraud served as president of the Hollywood Boys Club for many years and later founded a Boys Club in Wilmington, where his business was headquartered.

In addition to his wife, Sherry, and oldest son, Frank, of Los Angeles, Eyraud is survived by two other sons, Albert J. III of Marina del Rey, and Barron, of New York City; a sister, Lucille Reagan of San Pedro, and nine grandchildren.

Memorial services are being planned for next week at Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church.

Eyraud’s wife said memorial contributions can be made to the Boys Clubs of Hollywood or Wilmington or to the French Foundation for Alzheimer’s Research, 11620 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025.