Valentina Peter Herman (formerly Bier, Pereira, Skleminoff, and Beloshitskaya) passed away on June 21, 2026, at the age of 76.

She was born on April 20, 1950, in Korosten, Zhytomyr, Ukraine, to Petro Beloshitski and Nadia Beloshitskaya. She grew up in Korosten and then Kiev before emigrating to Los Angeles in 1975. Valentina studied Chemical Engineering at Irpensky Industrial College in Ukraine. After emigrating, she went on to develop experimental plastics for BF Goodrich. She later stepped away from her career to raise her four children as a single mother. In 2009 she founded Valentina's Jewelry and Flowers, collecting and selling estate and heirloom jewelry along with rare flower bulbs, a business that brought together her eye for beauty and her love of the rare and enduring.

A devout Ukrainian Orthodox Christian, Valentina loved to garden, remodel homes, and collect antiques. She was an artisan in the garden and the kitchen, and an incisive thinker. She had a particular love for the ocean and spent many hours walking the cliffs of Palos Verdes Estates and San Pedro, which she considered her home, with the waves crashing below.

Valentina was a firecracker, a charming and beautiful woman with a shrewd, brilliant mind. She accomplished anything she set her mind to.

Valentina was married to Wallis Pereira from 1977 to 1986 and to Robert Bier from 1987 to 1989. In 2008 she married Ray Michael Herman, who survives her. She is also survived by her four children, Layla Billowitz, Irena Pereira, Michael Robert Bier, and Nikita Bier; her two sisters, Olga Makalo and Irina Petrovna; and five grandchildren, Jonathan Billowitz, Conor Mandel, Katherine Mandel, Jacob Mandel, and Liliana Bier.

She is preceded in death by her beloved sister, Anna; her father, Petro; and her mother, Nadia, alongside whom she will be interred at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

A visitation will be held on Friday, June 26, from 4:00 to 8:00 PM at Green Hills Memorial Park, 27501 S. Western Ave., Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275. Her service will take place on Saturday, June 27, at 9:00 AM, also at Green Hills, followed by a reception at Terranea Resort, 100 Terranea Way, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275.

She will be missed.