Served the Longest in Top City Job : Albert Isen, Ex-Torrance Mayor, Dies

Albert Isen, who served as mayor of Torrance longer than any other person and presided over the city’s period of most rapid growth, died Monday of a brain tumor. He was 79.

“Al represented a very dramatic period of the city,” Mayor Katy Geissert said Tuesday.

Isen moved to Torrance in 1913 when it had a population of 300. He was president of the 1924 graduating class at Torrance High School.

Became Mayor in 1955

A lawyer active in Torrance civic life, he was elected to the City Council in 1954 and appointed mayor in 1955. In 1958, Torrance voters adopted a charter amendment providing for direct election of mayors, and Isen became the city’s first elected mayor. He was reelected in 1962 and 1966 but lost in 1970 to Ken Miller, who campaigned on a platform of restricting mayors to two terms. Isen lost again in 1972.

During his 15-year tenure as mayor, the population of Torrance grew by 100,000. In 1956, the city was honored as an All-American city, due in part to his lobbying. He also led efforts to establish the city’s annual Armed Forces Day Parade, to locate the Los Angeles County Superior Court near the city’s Civic Center and to build the Del Amo shopping mall.

Defied Council

Defying his council, Isen prevented the sale of Torrance Transit to the Southern California Rapid Transit District by refusing to sign the sale documents after the City Council had voted to get rid of the municipal bus system. He also successfully opposed plans for a freeway along the Pacific Coast Highway.

After losing in 1970 and 1972, he retired to private life. In the last several years, he had received, among other recognitions, the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce’s 1985 Distinguished Citizen Award. The city’s new bus facility recently was named after him.

Survivors include Sarah, his wife of 58 years, and a daughter, Lorna.