Jascha Heifetz - Family Life

Family Life

Heifetz was married in 1928 to the silent motion picture actress Florence Vidor, ex-wife of King Vidor, and adopted her seven year old daughter, Suzanne. The couple had two more children, Josefa (born 1930) and Robert (1932–2001) before divorcing in 1945. In 1947, Heifetz married Frances Spiegelberg, with whom he had another son, Joseph (known as Jay). The second marriage ended in divorce in 1962.

Heifetz's son Jay is a professional photographer. He was formerly head of marketing for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl, and the Chief Financial Officer of Paramount Pictures' Worldwide Video Division. He lives and works in Fremantle, Western Australia. Heifetz's daughter, Josefa Heifetz Byrne, is a lexicographer, the author of the Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words.

Heifetz's grandson Danny Heifetz is an accomplished drummer/percussionist and has played with Mr. Bungle, Dieselhed, Secret Chiefs 3 and Link Wray.

His extended family was active in Los Angeles progressive political circles in addition to music and art: they include artist Frances Heifetz-Bloch and her husband and daughter Kalman Bloch and Michele Zukovsky—co-principal clarinetists for the Los Angeles Philharmonic—and son Gregory Bloch, violinist for the Italian rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi, It's A Beautiful Day, and member of the Saturday Night Live orchestra from 1978-1980.

Heifetz had a difficult personality, and has even been described as "misanthropic". He tended to drive away the very people who could have been his most trusted allies. His own childhood had been difficult; his father was an extremely stern man who, even after Jascha had become the family's sole breadwinner, would still roundly criticise every performance.