Apparel
Greensboro, N.C.-based VF Corp. promoted Vans Inc. President Kevin Bailey to the same post for the parent company’s Asia-Pacific region. VF ‘s brands include the North Face, Timberland, JanSport, Wrangler, Reef and Nautica, among others. Bailey replaces and will report to Aidan O’Meara, who was named vice president and group president of VF International, effective April 1. The appointments came with the announcement that VF International Group President Karl Heinz Salzburger plans to retire next year.
Finance
The wife of “bond king” Bill Gross filed for divorce last month, according to news reports. Sue Gross cited “irreconcilable differences” in a petition filed with the Los Angeles state court on Nov. 22. The Grosses have been married for 31 years and have been generous philanthropists in Orange County. The Business Journal estimates Bill Gross’ wealth at $2.6 billion. He co-founded Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. in 1971 and helped it grow to $2 trillion in assets under management at its peak. Gross left PIMCO in 2014 to join Janus Capital Group Inc.
Media
Blizzard Entertainment Inc. in Irvine launched book-publishing label Blizzard Publishing, which will develop and release new and out-of-print titles related to the company’s “Warcraft,” “StarCraft” and “Diablo” games, both directly and through ongoing global partnerships. Upcoming releases are planned in multiple formats, from print novels and Japanese-style comics to audio and e-books.
Obituaries
Larry Dodge, one of the namesakes of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, died Dec. 1 at age 77. He was involved in business, the arts and philanthropy throughout his life. Dodge created and was founding chairman of the board and chief executive of now-defunct American Sterling Corporation, a privately held group of companies involved in banking, insurance, real estate, film production and technology. He and his wife, Kristina, became involved with the film school in 2000, when they funded the Next Generation Filmmakers project.
Sammy Lee, an ear, nose and throat doctor who was the first Asian-American to win an Olympic gold medal, died at a Newport Beach hospital on Dec. 2 at age 96, according to news reports. He also was the first diver to win back-to-back gold medals in separate Olympic Games. Lee practiced medicine in Santa Ana, and coached the 1960 U.S. Olympic diving team and the 1964 Japanese and Korean Olympic teams.
Manufacturing magnate, Pelican Hill resident and Business Journal OC’s Wealthiest list member Toshiaki Ogasawara died Nov. 30 in Newport Beach at age 85. He founded Tokyo-based industrial parts maker Nifco Inc. in 1967; it had $2.6 billion in net sales and $176 million in net income last year. Nifco is the parent of English-language newspaper the Japan Times. Ogasawara bought a $19 million residence in Pelican Hill about five years ago. We estimated his wealth for the 2016 ranking at about $350 million.
Technology
Chipmaker Microsemi Corp. in Aliso Viejo is part of a consortium of investors putting $18.7 million into an Irvine startup spun out of General Electric’s Global Research Center.
Ingram Micro in Irvine completed its $6 billion merger with Chinese conglomerate Tianjin Tianhai Investment Company Ltd. Shares in the OC technology products distributor stock ceased trading last week as a result. Ingram Micro will become a unit of HNA Group, a Hainan-based Fortune Global 500 company with major operations in aviation, tourism and logistics. It plans to keep its headquarters in Irvine, and Chief Executive Alain Monié is expected to stay with the company.
Other
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill to name the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Long Beach after the late Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and Garden Grove resident Tibor Rubin, who died last year. The bill now moves to the Senate. The hospital would be renamed the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center. Rubin survived the Holocaust and served in the Army during the Korean War. He died last year at 86.
