Irwin R. Buchalter; Law Firm Founder, Earl Scheib Inc. Chairman

Irwin R. Buchalter, 84, founder of a major Los Angeles law firm and chairman of an automobile painting firm. A native of St. Paul, Minn., Buchalter earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Minnesota and his law degree at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. In 1947, he founded Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger, a Los Angeles-based law firm that eventually added offices in San Francisco, San Jose, Newport Beach and New York. A longtime director and general counsel of Earl Scheib Inc., Buchalter became chairman of the well-advertised car painting firm when Scheib died in 1992. Buchalter also served on the boards of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Southwestern University School of Law and the Jewish Federation Council and headed the United Jewish Fund’s legal division. On Monday in Beverly Hills.