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EBay Titan ID’d As Resort Buyer; Freedom Update

EBay Titan ID’d As Resort Buyer; Freedom Update

OC INSIDER by Rick Reiff

There’s strong buzz that eBay’s billionaire founder, Pierre Omidyar, is in the process of buying Laguna Beach Colony Hotel, the swank seaside resort that is under construction on Monarch Beach, from Marriott Corp.

To readers of the April 29 item who have been asking when “unrest in the upper reaches” of the OC Register’s holding company Freedom Communications will become public, the Insider advises patience. Meanwhile, the Insider hears that Freedom’s chief legal officer, Glenn Fuller, will be leaving. “I’m still here and will be for awhile,” Fuller says. How long is awhile? “That’s all I can say right now”

It’s Henry Samueli’s turn to serve as chairman of the UCI Chief Executive Roundtable. David Pyott, Dwight Decker and Virginia Grogan are the new vice chairs

The Insider reached Irvin C. “Ernie” Chap-man on a recent afternoon where you can usually find the spry legend,at his ICC Enterprises office on Airway Avenue by John Wayne Airport. In fact, Chapman, 91, had to be hailed from the warehouse in order to take the call. The philanthropist, former Fullerton mayor, son of Chapman U’s namesake and the county’s oldest living Eagle Scout still drives himself to work five days a week. He apologizes, though, for reporting at 9 a.m., instead of hitting the road at 6 a.m. as he used to do. ICC is even older than Chapman, tracing its roots to the Placentia Orchard Co., est. 1892. But now ICC manages commercial properties instead of farms on behalf of three branches of the Chapman family. (The GM is Robert Wine of MDJ Management Co., Placentia.) Chapman says he hasn’t had a cold in 40 years; at the end of his annual checkup in January the doctor said, “I’ll see you next year.” Chapman’s health tip? Take lots of Vitamin C. That might sound self-serving from someone whose family became famous for growing Valencia oranges, but it’s hard to argue with his results

Money talks: On their recent visit to Washington, D.C., a 50-person contingent from OC’s New Majority and the Lincoln Clubs of Northern California met with Dick Cheney, Bush advisor Karl Rove, EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, two Cabinet heads, Sen. Olympia Snow, Rep. Christopher Shays and pollster Frank Luntz, among others

Lawyer and social conscience William R. “Bill” Mitchell has joined Cummins & White in Newport Beach

Dealmaker Dan Lubeck turned 40 by partying in Cabo, ending a one-year sabbatical and forming a new investment company, Solis Capital Partners

The Blade reported that Bill Clinton, traveling with an entourage, made an unannounced visit to Different Drummer Books in Laguna Beach and bought two books for his nephews

Annoying to EE RR: Gas pumps that make you punch in a zip code. Send the Insider your pet peeve.

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