Alfred Sheinwold, Bridge Columnist and Player, Dies at 85

Alfred Sheinwold, an author of 13 best-selling books on bridge and a syndicated columnist whose columns appeared in 200 newspapers, including The Times, died Saturday. He was 85.

’ A stepdaughter, Ellie Pynes, said Sheinwold died at Sherman Oaks Hospital after suffering a stroke Friday.

Sheinwold, often called the “King of Bridge,” was considered one of the foremost experts on the game. “But I think for those who knew him well, he was better known for his gentleness, his compassion and his deep interest in friends and family,” said Steve Christensen, vice president and general manager of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, the distributor of Sheinwold’s column.

Born in London, Sheinwold said he took up bridge “to escape dull philosophy lectures” while a student at the City College of New York.

And despite his self-described penchant for cutting classes and playing cards, he graduated as a Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in economics.

But he was soon hooked on the game. “It was better than any game I’d come across,” he said in a Times interview in 1993.

As a bridge player, Sheinwold won hundreds of tournaments, including the North American Open Team Championship, the North American Men’s Championship and the North American Mixed Pair Championship.

He was the captain of teams that represented North America in international contests in 1975, 1985 and 1989. His team won the world championship in 1985, and took second place in 1975.

He was inducted into the Bridge Hall of Fame in Philadelphia in February 1996.

Sheinwold’s best-known book, “5 Weeks to Winning Bridge,” has sold more than 2 million copies, and was hailed by the New York Times as the “best bridge book ever written.”

He gave up a bridge column he was writing for a New York newspaper when World War II broke out. He served in the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA, as a code and cipher expert and head of cryptographic security.

Sheinwold is survived by his wife, Paula; a brother; two sisters; stepdaughters Ellie Pynes of Beverly Hills and Jean Revere of San Francisco; stepsons John Adler and Richard Mann, both of Los Angeles; and seven grandchildren.

Services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday at Hillside Memorial Chapel, 6001 Centinela Ave., Los Angeles.

The family suggests that contributions be made to the American Heart Assn. and the American Diabetes Assn.