Developer and U-T San Diego Publisher Douglas F. Manchester has inked a letter of intent to buy Freedom Communications Inc.’s Orange County Register, The Insider hears …
It didn’t take Glenn Stearns long to fill any gaps in his schedule after he shed day-to-day duties at his Stearns Lending Inc. He handed over the CEO’s job to newly hired MetLife Home Loans veteran Brian Hale on May 21, retaining the chairman’s post. Three hours later Stearns stopped by the Business Journal in his newest capacity: managing partner of Strathspey Crown LLC, a private equity firm he’s formed with Robert Grant and John Clarey. The three are out to carve a new niche in the healthcare business and talked to our Vita Reed (see story, page 1) …
It went just the way Tom Fuentes planned it. The nearly 600 mourners following the former longtime OC Republican Party chairman’s coffin out of Santiago de Compostela Catholic Church in Lake Forest broke into grins as they left behind the solemn chants of the Norbertine Fathers from St. Michael’s Abbey and emerged into sunshine and lively tunes of a mariachi band. Among notables on hand: Chris Cox, John Campbell, Ed Royce, Dana Rohrabacher, Tony Rackauckas, Pat Bates, Janet Nguyen, Michael Schroeder, Safi Qureshey and Tom Malcolm. OC Bishop Tod D. Brown celebrated the funeral mass, with eulogies from Monsignor Lawrence Baird and Fuentes’ three children. Daughter Michelle recalled her dad’s three admonitions: “Clean your room, wrap your presents using the good ribbon and finish your thank-you notes.” … A bunch more politicos gathered at the church a night earlier, when current OC GOP chair Scott Baugh, Eagle Publishing Chairman Tom Phillips and Hugh Hewitt recalled Fuentes for the crowd …
Last week the Insider gave an update to the Business Journal’s OC 50, our annual list of local business leaders, which came out only a few weeks ago and already is gathering footnotes. First came news Tom McKernan had stepped down as CEO of the Automobile Club, and Jim Mazzo announced plans to leave his post as president of Abbott Medical Optics at year’s end. These things come in threes, and this set rounds out with word from Women’s Wear Daily that St. John Knits, where fellow OC 50er Glenn P. McMahon is CEO, is for sale …
Expert advice: Put $2 on I’ll Have Another, the surprise winner of the first two legs of the Triple Crown, for the Belmont Stakes on June 9. Don’t cash it if it hits—the price of the ticket will be worth the souvenir if the horse, owned by J. Paul Reddam of CashCall Lending in Anaheim, becomes the first Triple Crown winner in 34 years …
Inexpert advice: Hedge any real bets on I’ll Have Another in the Belmont, which goes a mile-and-a-half, the longest of the three races. The Insider suggests a boxed exacta pairing with Dullahan, a likely Belmont entry who closed like a hungry salesman in the Kentucky Derby and should be well rested after skipping the Preakness …
Speaking of hungry: There’s an all-you-can-eat theme shaping up at MacArthur & Main, where Agora, a Brazilian-style place, brings grilled meats to your table and Makino sushi buffet now sits next door.
