Oil company executive of Polish-Jewish ancestry who emigrated to America and became an authority on Yiddish theatre. He also dabbled in films and directed several motion pictures for 20th Century Fox during the 1940's, using the pseudonym of 'Thomas Z. Loring'. Lerner was the founding director of the Kansas City Resident Theter. During World War II, he worked as a documentary film maker for Frank Capra. In 1946, he gave a young Norma Jean Baker (the future Marilyn Monroe) her first screen tests. In 1954, he returned to the oil business, establishing the Ko-Ler Oil Company in Shevreport.