Orville Kelman, accountant, world traveler, role model, and mentor, passed away on February 23, 2024, in Thousand Oaks, California. Kelman served as the longtime accountant for Volta Music, Dimitri Tiomkin’s music publishing company incorporated in California in 1957. Olivia Tiomkin recalls John Waxman introducing her to Kelman in the late 1980s and that Orville “was an enormous help to me over the years.”
After attending grammar school in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1934 Kelman’s family—his Russian-born father sold oil burners—made its way to the West Adams district in Los Angeles, where he was among the first class to go through Dorsey High School during the years 1937 to 1940. The school, now known as Susan Miller Dorsey High School, can be seen in Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical 2022 film The Fabelmans.
World War II
Subsequent to enrolling at UCLA in the fall of 1940, Kelman’s studies in math and accounting were waylaid in May of 1943 when he was called to active duty during World War II. His involvement with the campus ROTC Coast Artillery program did prepare him for Officer Candidate School. After D-Day, arriving at Omaha Beach in France by way of England, he would help to clear French towns from occupying Germans.
While serving under General George S. Patton’s Third Army as a U.S. Army second lieutenant in the 90th Infantry, Kelman was reported missing in action in France in December 1944, after a skirmish with Germans. Taken as a prisoner of war, his whereabouts remained unknown until after the liberation of the Szubin prison camp in central Poland in January 1945.
After hearing rumors the Russian Army was approaching the camp, a small group of officers quarantined with scarlet fever, including Kelman, fled east where they met the advancing Russians. Recuperating in the care of Russians, the Americans headed south by truck to Odessa where by boat they made their way to Naples, Italy, via Istanbul and Greece. Sailing on an American ship from Naples to Boston, Kelman then hopped on a train to Los Angeles. The Army sent him to Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, and then Eugene, Oregon, where he was discharged in late 1945.
From Orville Kelman Accountancy to Kelman & Chan
Upon returning home, Kelman completed his B.S. degree at UCLA in June 1946 and one month later he and Shirley Rosalyn Marcus (1926–2011) were married. The couple had three children, and his son, Barry, would one day work alongside his father.
By 1950, working as a certified public accountant, Kelman became a member of the American Institute of Accountants. During a family vacation in Las Vegas he witnessed an atomic bomb test. His sister, Mrs. Richard (Faye) Fenton, told a reporter the resulting mushroom pillar of smoke looked like “a giant finger balancing a fat sno-cone [sic].”
In Los Angeles, his eponymous agency, the Orville Kelman Accountancy Corporation, served as tax expert and auditor for bandleader and television personality Lawrence Welk and many others. Film ventures included a partnership in Quadro Productions with director Joseph Sargent. His business interests took in real estate from the historic Sunset Tower to a condo development in Rancho Mirage.
At an age when most people would retire, with one of his employees, Joe Hausang Chan, he formed Kelman & Chan LLP in 1989. From its location in North Hollywood and subsequently Calabasas the company would provide tax, auditing, financial statements compilation and review, and consulting services to a variety of clients including people in the entertainment industry, real estate developers, wholesale distributors, and retailers. Kelman continued to work in the office until the age of 99.
Surrounded by the Enemy
In 2022, Kelman sat down for a filmed interview with a young local videographer, Rishi Sharma, to recount in astonishing detail his experience during World War II. The video can be viewed on YouTube: “Surrounded by the Enemy!” Orville Kelman interviewed by Rishi Sharma, 2022.
The Key to Longevity
To Orville Kelman, the key to longevity can be summed up in two words: Avoid stress.
Sources
Note: Thanks to Barry Kelman for providing additional biographical information.
- “Russ Liberate Southlanders,” Los Angeles Times, February 23, 1945.
- “Elect Orville Kelman,” Van Nuys News, September 21, 1950.
- “Vacationists See A-Bomb at Las Vegas,” Van Nuys News, April 24, 1952.
- Cassyd, Syd, “Hollywood Report,” Variety, August 14, 1967.
- Welk, Lawrence, My America, Your America, G. K. Hall, 1977.
- Bertholdo, Stephanie, “Student get WWII vets on the record,” Simi Valley Acorn, May 27, 2016.
- Megli, Dawn, “Best role model ever taught his kids to love,” Thousand Oaks Acorn, November 11, 2021.
- Kelman & Chan company profile.
- ancestry.com.
- Orville Kelman on Dignity Memorial.