aPBS SoCal, formerly KOCE-TV, raised $852,000 at its recent Masterpiece Ball gala, held at Atlantic Aviation’s hangar at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana.
More than 350 people attended the event, emceed by PBS SoCal’s Real Orange hosts Ann Pulice and Ed Arnold.
The fifth annual gala honored Downton Abbey and Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of WGBH Boston’s Masterpiece Theatre, who brought the British TV series to the U.S. Eaton also imported the British TV series Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.
Also honored at the gala were Sebastian Paul Musco, founder and chairman of Santa Ana-based Gemini Industries Inc., and his wife, Marybelle, and David Emmes and Martin Benson, founding artistic directors of South Coast Repertory at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa.
Entertainment at the event included professional dancers from the motion/Tribe dance company and a song performance by Landon Swick, a student at Santa Ana-based Orange County High School of the Arts. The 45-member band JT and California Dreamin’ also performed. JT stands for John Tu, the cofounder of Kingston Technology.
There was also a surprise performance by Mel and the Mel-Adjusteds featuring PBS SoCal Chief Executive Mel Rogers; Jim McCluney, chief executive of Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp.; Jim Mazzo, senior vice president of Santa Ana-based Abbott Medical Optics Inc.; Rick Reiff, executive producer of SoCal Insider with Rick Reiff; and Glenn Stearns, chair of Santa Ana-based Stearns Corp.
Irvine-based cosmetic company Arbonne International LLP provided gifts for the guests.
Larry Zucker, founder of Lake Forest-based The Gavel Group, conducted the live auction.
This year’s gala’s organizing co-chairs were Peggy Goldwater Clay and Ardelle St. George.
Sponsors included John and Mary Tu; Sebastian Paul and Marybelle Musco; George and Julia Argyros of the Argyros Family Foundation; Glenn and Mindy Stearns; Phil and Mary Lyons; Wylie and Bette Aitken; Chapman University; Five Point Communities in Irvine; Jim and Kelly Mazzo; Snell & Wilmer LLP’s Costa Mesa office; and several others.
In-kind sponsors included Bluewater Grill, Tustin Ranch Golf Club and Newport Beach-based Your Car, Our Driver.
Pink Tie Ball
Orange County Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s sixth annual Pink Tie Ball raised $360,000 to fund mammograms, as well as awareness programs and breast cancer research.
The event, held at Festival of Arts grounds in Laguna Beach, honored Harald Herrmann, chief executive of Irvine-based Yard House USA Inc. Almost 400 people attended. Herrmann, a sponsor of the Pink Tie Ball, is a founding member of the Pink Tie Guys, a group of men who advocate for breast cancer awareness, wearing pink ties at public events.
The Pink Tie Ball also introduced new Pink Tie Guys: Bob Abbott (artist known as Jerome Gastaldi), creator of The Yard House Art Collection; Glenn Gray, chief executive officer of Tustin-based Sunwest Bank; Gary Levine, director of radiology at Hoag Breast Care Center in Newport Beach; John Miller, executive vice president of The Page Group Inc., based in Washington, D.C.; Kenneth McFarland, chief executive of Orange-based St. Joseph Health’s Mission Hospital; John Stratman Jr., public affairs director for Kaiser Permanente, a unit of Oakland-based Kaiser Foundation Health; and Scott Wheeler, chief financial officer of Experian North America, based in Costa Mesa.
Other sponsors included: Saks Fifth Avenue; Julia and George Argyros (Argyros Family Foundation); Kaiser Permanente; Yard House; Angels Baseball; Experian; Santa Ana-based First American Financial Corp.; Irvine-based Greenberg Traurig LLP; Irvine-based Haskell & White LLP; Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc.; Fountain Valley-based MemorialCare Health System; Mission Hospital; OC Fiat of Orange Coast Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Costa Mesa; Irvine-based Palmieri; Tyler, Wiener, Wilhelm & Waldron LLP; Irvine-based Parker Aerospace, a unit of Parker-Hannifin Corp. in Cleveland; Santa Ana-based Freedom Communications Inc.’s Coast magazine; Veronica Gray; Sue Parks; and Marica Pendjer.
Opus Foundation
Stephen Gordon, chairman and chief executive officer of Irvine-based Opus Bank and chairman of Opus Community Foundation, announced $77,500 in charitable grants.
Organizations receiving the awards in California included:
Huntington Beach-based El Viento Foundation, which provides tutoring and college prep to low-income youth in Huntington Beach; OC Stem Initiative, which promotes science, technology, engineering and math education; Santa Ana-based Orange County Community Housing Corp.’s College Awareness Program; University of California, Irvine’s Financial Literacy Summer Residential Program; San Pedro-based Angels Gate Cultural Center’s Artists in Classrooms programs; and several others.
