POMONA, CALIF. — Armand Antunez, owner of Coast Foundry and Manu-facturing Co. here, died Dec. 30, 2005. He was 84.

At the beginning of his professional
career in 1950, Antunez was hired in a
Los Angeles brass foundry where he
worked his way up from shop foreman
to plant manager. When the opportunity arose, he bought Coast Foundry, which introduced a number of innovations to the plumbing industry.

In 1962, Antunez introduced the
first patented snap-action shut-off
technology for ballcocks, the com-pany
said. From this point on, over his
50-year career, he continued to develop
new technologies and expand Coast Foundry into a leading toilet-tank trim manufacturer.

Antunez was born Feb. 5, 1921, in Glendale, Calif., to Catherine Bonura Antunez of Italy and Armand Eloy Antunez of Los Angeles. He graduated in 1939 from Glendale High School, where he was student body president. During his junior year, he set a track record for the 440-yard dash at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Antunez then attended Glendale Junior College for a year and graduated in 1949 from Occidental College in Los Angeles with a bachelor of science degree. Stationed in San Diego, he served as a hand-to-hand combat instructor in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946.

In 1941, while living in Glendale, he met Dorothy May Williams, whom he married Oct. 21, 1944. They had three children.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Dorothy May Antunez, and his three children, Bruce Armand Antunez and twins Brian Gregory Antunez and Denise Susan Flint.