Daniel Wittmann; Former Factory Owner

Daniel Wittmann, who once owned a factory that made women’s clothing, died Monday. He was 94.

Born in a small village in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Wittmann dropped out of school at age 12 to work in a sugar factory. When he was 18, he and his older brother Henry immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island and lived in Brooklyn.

Wittmann worked in a knitting mill, eventually becoming a manager before opening his own mill nearby. In 1928, he married Mary Lutz, whom he met in Brooklyn but who was coincidentally from the same small village in Europe.

Wittmann moved back to Europe in 1938, but left in 1939 because of the threat of war.

He retired at 51 and devoted much of his time to playing the stock market. He moved to Camarillo 20 years ago to be nearer his son and grandchildren.

In his free time, Wittmann enjoyed fishing, said his son, Daniel Jr.

“It was his love, his only real hobby,” he said. “He loved fishing anywhere. You could throw a plastic fish in a bathtub and he’d sit there all day.”

In addition to his wife and son, Wittmann is survived by his daughter, Eleanor K. Barry of Frederick, Md.; five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Visitation and services are scheduled at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Pierce Brothers Griffin Chapel in Camarillo, with a private burial to follow.