George Argyros gives a lot—even for a billionaire. The business school at Chapman University in Orange bears his name, and he’ll share the billing with wife, Julia, on a new pediatric emergency room at CHOC, which is moving forward with a $5 million gift from the Argyros family—just to cite a couple examples of generosity. He gave a little more at a recent fundraiser for Mitt Romney at the Segerstrom Center, stepping in to help vamp when the GOP nominee had to delay his appearance while conducting a press conference to respond to the release of a theretofore private video of his “47%” remarks. Argyros took the stage with Terry Fator, a ventriloquist and 2007 winner of the America’s Got Talent TV competition and its $1 million prize. Argyros played the dummy to Fator’s string-pulling. Talk about going against type for the sake of the candidate …
A whole ’nother sort of gathering went on not long ago just a few steps from the Segerstrom Center. The Center Club had a beer-pong tournament as part of a membership drive hosted by Center 39, a contingent of under-40 members. Expect more when the Center Club finishes its renovation, now nearly halfway complete. There will be a bit less space for formal dining, new private rooms for everything from board meetings to smaller gatherings, and an Anytime Lounge with a 103-inch TV screen, meal service and a bar that will go from barista in the morning to booze at night. All kinds of connectivity planned, too, as the club aims to reach out to younger members while keeping its old-school class …
Recent appointments: OC Business Council CEO Lucy Dunn to the newly formed Ontario International Airport Authority, which aims to get control of the facility, a major economic driver for Southern California, from the City of Los Angeles. Carole Wade, corporate event planner and a nominee for the Business Journal’s Women In Business Awards earlier this year, has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the World Affairs Council of Orange County …
Amplification: Santa Ana Unified School District Board President Rob Richardson sent along an email to “note with pride” last week’s item about Stanford Professionals in Real Estate’s induction of Henry Segerstrom in the alumni group’s Hall of Fame and a memorial tribute to the late Donald Kennedy, both set for this week at the Westin South Coast Plaza. Richards also added that “both men received their start as graduates of Santa Ana High School, Orange County’s first high school” … Correction: A caller from Turtle Rock pointed out that incumbent John Campbell is, indeed, running against Irvine Mayor Sukhee Kang for a seat in Congress, but the contest is for the newly drawn 45th District, not the 48th, as stated here last week. …
Straight shot: From OC Weekly Editor Gustavo Arellano on the publication’s recent switch back to newsprint in a cost-cutting move after two years on glossy paper. “The OC Weekly is a yellow paper, and we deserve a cover that matches that,” Arellano told the Insider, referring to the sort of muckraking journalism that goes back to when newspapers practiced “yellow journalism” with pride. Credit Arellano for the lemonade-out-of-lemons tagline his paper now carries: “Glossy in Spirit.”
