Harold Lee Bigman passed away on May 8, 2024. He was 92 years old and is survived by his wife of 67 years, Marilyn, and his children Jeff Bigman, Dana Bigman, and Jill Wishner and grandchildren Shaye Bigman, Alexa Wishner, and Jenna Wishner.

Hal, as he preferred to be known, wrote the following autobiography:

The Early Years

I was born in Chicago, Illinois, on September 22, 1931, in Mount Sinai Hospital. My brother Cary was born in the same hospital two and a half years later.

On one occasion, my parents found Cary and me playing cowboys and Indians in the living room and lighting a fire on the carpet. Did we get in trouble!

We attended William Penn Elementary School, and after school we made rubberband guns and had neighborhood gang fights. We made our own scooters out of wooden grocery boxes with skate wheels. We traded comic books and World War II cards. We went treasure hunting in the alleys of our neighborhood.

We loved it when we went fishing in Chicago at Dam #3, visited the museums downtown, and vacationed with our aunts and cousins in St. Joe and South Haven, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. 

At 13 I had a Bar Mitzvah in Chicago. I was the first one in my generation, being the oldest of all our cousins.

Farm Life

Soon after I graduated from grammar school we moved to South Haven, which was a small Jewish community of resort owners and farmers. We belonged to a small temple, which was attended by all the Jewish families in town.

Cary and I attended South Haven High School. I was the class artist and would make signs for those students running for office. In the evening my mom, Lorraine, would play the piano and we would sing with her.

We had a 20-acre farm and we took care of the chickens and ducks, milked our cow Bossy, and cut asparagus that we sold in town. We also had six beehives and lots of honey.

During the summer we worked at Rosenson's Resort as waiters. That's where we learned to dance. We took turns dancing with one of the girls staying there, and the rest of us used chairs to practice our steps.

Art and the Air Force

After graduation from high school in June 1949, I moved back to Chicago and stayed with my grandparents. I attended the Art Institute of Chicago until I could enroll at Herzl Junior College. I also got a job working at Marshall Field's department store in the Men's section as a go-fer.

It was the time of the Korean War and I was the age to be drafted so I enlisted in the Air Force on December 7, 1951. I was sent to basic training in San Antonio, Texas. After training I was sent to Bergstrom Air Force in Austin, Texas. Because I had two years of college, they wanted me to work in office headquarters, but I had my instructors at Herzl send letters that I would be better suited as an artist. They agreed and sent me to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where I worked drawing accident reports, base cartoons, and graphic training charts.

In Strategic Air Command we had to be ready for any attacks, so we changed bases every three months. We were sent to Japan to visit Tokyo and other cities. Our pilots were flying a mission and saw a UFO, and I had to draw what the pilots saw. Eventually I received Top Secret clearance.

On April 5, 1955, I got an honorable discharge as A1C early so I could attend UCLA in California.

In the meantime my parents had sold the farm, traveled the country in a trailer, and settled in San Gabriel, California. Cary, who had been in the Army, also was discharged. My mom, who had always encouraged my art, took up oil painting and became an artist herself.

Love, Marriage, and Family

At UCLA I majored in Art. My friend Len Kass, who I met in the Air Force, also was attending UCLA. We were waiting in line at the school cafeteria when we met a young woman, Marilyn Horwitz, with whom we shared a table. She lived in a dorm off campus but usually went home to East LA on weekends. Since it was on my way to San Gabriel, I offered to drop her off. This became a Friday routine. After we got to know each other, we began dating and fell in love. I proposed to her at the Sea Lion in Malibu.

At that time I was working as a draftsman for CD&E Engineering in Pasadena.

Marilyn and I were married on January 26, 1957, at the Ambassador Hotel and honeymooned in San Francisco. We settled in Hollywood where her uncles had an apartment building.

Taking advantage of the GI Bill, I started at Art Center School on 3rd St., majoring in Advertising Design. After graduating from UCLA, Marilyn worked at an employment agency.

Jeff and Dana were born while we were in Hollywood. Marilyn stayed home to take care of them and I worked at several ad agencies.

We eventually bought our first house in North Hollywood. Sometime later we bought a larger home in Sepulveda, where Jill was born. In my spare time I designed sculpture lines for several companies.

A Career with Security

When I was working at Stoneham and Summers as Art Director, they hired a copywriter, Bob Bargert, who eventually left to work on a security trade magazine named Security World. He asked if I would like to join him as Art Director for the publications, so I left to work there. The publishing company grew to three magazines and a staff of five people. We won numerous awards for my design covers and inside page layouts.

When the magazine was sold to a larger company, Bob and I started a security magazine of our own named Alarm Installer and Dealer. It was very successful and we put on several tradeshows throughout the country.  Around this time Marilyn went back to work, as an Office Manager, and I set up a home office and worked most of the time from there. 

Retirement

Bob wasn't doing well health-wise and he wanted to sell our magazine to a larger company. So retirement came sooner than expected.

Marilyn retired soon after and we took many cruises throughout the years. After Jill went away to college, we sold the house and moved into a townhouse in Tarzana. We were there when the Northridge Earthquake hit and had to move out for a year while our home was rebuilt. In 2000 we bought a home in West Hills, where we've been ever since. 

That's where Hal's autobiography stopped, but his life continued for nearly 25 years. Here are some other highlights:

Quiet Goodness

To say Hal was quiet was an understatement. He never felt the need to talk much, but he showed love and kindness to his family and friends in many ways. When someone he knew was out of work or going through a hard time financially, he would quietly give them some cash to tide them over. One time he brought home an old friend of the family he saw on the street who was homeless. The man stayed in their house for several months and in that time Hal worked tirelessly to help him get back on his feet.

Hobbies and Interests

Hal was an avid reader. When he took his young kids to the library every week, he always checked out the maximum number of books allowed. While the rest of the family was watching TV, he would sit on the couch with them and read. He loved science fiction and books about paranormal and psychic abilities. The Seth Speaks series by Jane Roberts and The Silva Mind Control Method by José Silva and were among his favorites.

Hal was athletic and kept himself in good shape. When Nautilus started opening gyms in Southern California, he was one of the first to sign up. He enjoyed playing tennis (until he injured his Achilles tendon) and was an excellent ping pong player, even bringing along a special paddle when he and Marilyn went on cruises. For many years he took Silver Sneakers classes, and when the teacher went on vacation he was the student she tapped to fill in for her.

After retirement Hal bought himself a Mac and learned to create digital art. He also took art classes at Pierce College. He often gifted his friends and family with whimsical magazine covers he created featuring their photo and special interests.

Ever since he was a kid, Hal loved Marvel Comics, especially the Green Lantern and Captain Marvel, and through the years he saw every superhero movie in both the Marvel and DC universes. When Hal turned 90, Jill threw him a birthday party where everyone was supposed to come dressed as their favorite superhero. Hal and Marilyn came dressed as pirates and everyone got a good laugh at that!

Family and Friends

Jill married Darren Wishner in 1997, they settled in Agoura Hills, and they had Alexa in 1999 and Jenna in 2006. Hal was wonderful with babies and adored his granddaughters. The girls enjoyed many Shabbat dinners at Mamo and Grandpa's house.

Jeff, who like Hal is a lifelong artist, married Judy Hsieh in 2010 and they moved to Sylmar. They had Shaye in 2014. Finally there was a male to carry on the Bigman name! Last fall Hal saw Shaye play baseball in his first season in the Sylmar Independent Baseball League.

Len Kass and his wife Zita had settled in West Hills and lived only a couple of blocks from Hal and Marilyn, and they remained close friends and saw each other often up until the end. In late 2023 Len and Zita moved to The Village at Northridge retirement communit. Marilyn joined them there on May 30, 2024, and later moved to The Village at Sherman Oaks.

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