Armand Deutsch (January 25, 1913 – August 13, 2005) was an American film producer and grandson of philanthropist and Sears CEO Julius Rosenwald. He believed that he was the intended target of the thrill killersLeopold and Loeb, who went on to kidnap and murder his schoolmate Robert "Bobby" Franks in 1924.[1]
Early life and education
Deutsch was born on January 25, 1913, in Chicago, Illinois, to Armand and Adele Deutsch Levy (née Rosenwald). His mother was Jewish.[2] Deutsch's parents married in 1911.[3] They divorced before 1927 whereupon his mother married Dr David M Levy, a child psychologist and moved to New York City to pursue a long and notable career in philanthropy. Adele was among the founders of The Citizen's Committee for Children and was a member of the executive committee of the United Jewish Appeal's fundraising for survivors of the Holocaust in 1947.
Deutsch and actress Benay Venuta married in 1939. Maintaining a home in Palm Springs, California,[5] they had two daughters, Patty and Deborah, and divorced in 1950. Deutsch's second marriage to Harriet Berk Simon, widow of S. Sylvan Simon, in 1951 ended with his death. They had four children together.
Known as "a friendly and unobtrusive fellow,"[6] Deutsch had many famous and influential friends, including William Goetz, Frank Sinatra, and United States President Ronald Reagan and First LadyNancy Reagan, both of whom he met before the two married. He remained their close friend throughout Reagan's time as governor and president. In 1981, Reagan appointed Deutsch to the Presidential Task Force on the Arts & Humanities, which was established to recommend ways that both private and federal support for the arts and humanities could be enhanced.
Deutsch claimed that, as an 11-year-old in 1924, he may have been the intended target of the thrill killers Leopold and Loeb, who went on to kidnap and murder his schoolmate, Robert "Bobby" Franks. Writing in the Chicago Tribune in 1996, he stated that he avoided his brush with death as rather than walking home from school, he was driven to a dentist appointment by his chauffeur:
It was no mystery why Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold had singled me out as a prime prospect for their heinous crime. My grandfather, Julius Rosenwald, was the chairman of the board of Sears, Roebuck and Co. His prominence made me an ideal choice.
In addition, Loeb's father was a Sears vice president. Our families were friends...So I knew and trusted both older boys, a great plus as they formulated their plans for what would become the first "crime of the century."[9]
