Viertel, Joseph 1915-2008 (Joseph Maurice Viertel)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born August 13, 1915, in New York, NY; died December 11, 2008. Builder, business executive, and novelist. Viertel's theatrical ambitions stalled early when his first play folded after two weeks on Broadway, so he threw himself into the family construction business, which coincidentally included the building of Broadway theaters. In 1940 he became the chair of the finance committee of what later became Presidential Realty Corporation; he was later a director of Trans-Lux Corporation, F.D. Rich Construction Company, and Lanvin-Charles of the Ritz. Viertel continued to indulge his yen for writing, however, and his first novel, The Last Temptation (1955), sizzled with enough scandalous behavior from one end of the European continent to the other to make it a best seller. Viertel's own career in the construction trade provided fodder for the next novel, To Love and Corrupt (1962), the story of a New Jersey builder with friends in dangerous places. Viertel's novels were reportedly full of action and suspense, set against a backdrop of political intrigue and topical events. Monkey on a String (1968) reflected some of the civil rights issues of the sixties, and Life Lines (1982) dealt with issues related to the last phases of the Cold War. Viertel's last novel was Waltzing (2002).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), February 2, 2008, p. 72.