Memorial for BMW club founder

A “Celebration of Life” will be held for the founder of the Los Angeles BMW Club Leif Seth Anderberg from 12 noon – 5 p.m. Sunday, April 29, on the infield of Santa Anita Park. Anderberg and his late wife Fia, who founded the BMW Club in Los Angeles in April 1970,  were honored as “Friends of the Marque” by BMW AG and the international association of BMW clubs.

Anderberg’s daughter Tina has invited owners of vintage and other interesting BMW to come and park on the green.

Anderberg died on January 24. He was born October 26, 1940 in Stockholm and soon emigrated to the United States, where he met and married Fia, also a Swedish expatriate. Eventually they moved to Southern California, where Anderberg worked for a well-known global marketing and advertising research company.

In 1969, Anderberg and Fia, who died in 1997, bought their first BMW, a white 2002. That same year he joined a BMW Car Club of Boston. Shortly thereafter, in April 1970, the Anderbergs joined about three dozen other Los Angeles BMW fans to form the BMW Automobile Club of America (BMW ACA). He became an avid BMW model car collector, a CCA National Technical Service Advisor, and a columnist in the LA Club newsletter. The couple organized hundreds of other events—autocrosses, picnics, tours, barbecues, Christmas parties, beer tastings, hill climbs, beach parties, tech sessions, and camping trips.

Anderberg succumbed to an apparent heart attack in January. He was preceded in death by his wife, Fia, in 1997. Anderberg is survived by his daughter Tina, his grandson Seth and a soon-to-be-born grandchild.

— By Scott Hettrick