The Crowd: OC business community honors two of their own
The Segerstrom Center for the Arts rallied the Orange County business community for the second annual Arts and Business Leadership Awards during a recent midweek dinner and ceremony.
The program calls for honoring two business leaders — one established and another rising in the realm of contributing to the well-being of community through civic and cultural contribution.
The 2014 notables were Rick Muth, president of ORCO Block & Hardscape, receiving the Distinguished Leader Award and Andrew Low, vice president and senior director BNY Mellon Wealth Management, presented with the center’s Rising Leader Award.
The event unfolded in the Samueli Theatre as a full house of family, friends and co-workers of the honorees converged for a sunset cocktail reception followed by a three-course dinner by Patina Catering.
Center board Chairman John Ginger, in his warm and folksy style, set the tone for the awards presentation emphasizing the importance of long-standing relationships in the OC community.
Ginger, who is in a similar masonry business as Muth, said he has known the Muth family for decades sharing a commitment to the growth of the OC cultural landscape. Ginger co-chaired the event with fellow OC business leader William Meehan, partner in Rutan and Tucker and center board member.
The gathering raised $300,000 for center education outreach and community engagement programs.
“When a community fosters a strong arts sector, neighborhoods transform, attracting new businesses and bright minds,” Ginger said. “Creativity flourishes creating a vibrant unstoppable economic engine.”
Both Muth and Low were introduced as role models of community involvement.
Following dinner, the crowd was treated to a performance of “Motown The Musical” in Segerstrom Hall and following curtain joined the company for an exclusive late night cast party at Scott’s Restaurant & Bar.
Center President Terry Dwyer was on hand to thank supporters including major donors Larry and Dee Higby, Carol and Kent Wilken, Tom and Joyce Tucker, Shanaz and Jack Langson, SL and Betty Huang, and John and Carolyn Carrett. Major corporate support came from KIA, ORCO, Zegna, Bank of America and BNY Mellon, to name a few.
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OC Culinary Kings recognized
They are called “titans of the O.C. Italian kitchen.” Restaurateurs Antonio Cagnolo and Sir Bruno Serato were feted last week by 300 fans of their cooking and their big hearts at a dinner to top all dinners held at Serato’s Anaheim White House restaurant.
Cagnolo, proprietor of three South Coast Plaza dining rooms, Antonello, Quattro Caffe and Nello Cucina, and Serato raised $45,000 at the dinner, which will benefit Serato’s nonprofit known as Catalina’s Club.
The fund has provided meals for some 5,000 underprivileged O.C. “motel” kids every night for the past 10 years. Cagnolo’s work in the community assisting Second Harvest Food Bank, Olive Crest, Orangewood and more prompted Serato to honor the chef with Serato’s Catalina Award bringing the two men together for this special evening.
A bit of Hollywood glam turned out for the celebration as the O.C. crowd mingled with five-time Emmy Award winning actress Doris Roberts, soap star Jack Betts and O.C. Housewife Vicki Gunvalson.
Italian songstress Maria Elena Infantino entertained as champagne flowed followed by a four-course extravagant dinner that began with prosciutto, mozzarella and tomato salad, then a pappardelle pasta with braised beef in a cabernet glace. The entre was an oven-roasted filet mignon in an Italian porcini mushroom sauce followed by a fabulous dessert bar overflowing with delicacies.
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A change of the guard for ‘1221’
The matriarch of Balboa Bay Club, also sometimes referred to as “Queen of Coast Highway,” Carole Pickup, turned over the reins of the “1221” Club presidency to the social mover and shaker Kathy Hamilton last week at a reception held in a bayside room at Balboa Bay Resort.
Ladies of the “1221,” a social auxiliary of Balboa Bay Club dedicated to raising college scholarship funds for Newport-Mesa students, gathered over sunset cocktails and hors d’oeuvres prepared by the new BBC chef David Fuñe.
Hamilton, wife of Wells Fargo private banker Noel Hamilton, welcomed the late afternoon cocktail crowd sharing some highlights of “1221” efforts past, present and future.
“2015 marked our million dollar year,” Kathy Hamilton said.”With our grants of $149,000 this year to 23 students we crossed $1 million in fundraising donations.”
“1221” member Char Armstrong, who serves on the scholarship selection committee, said the organization restores her hope for the world.
“Meeting the students, all of whom are so deserving, shows so much hope for the future of America,” she said. “Some of the students came from stable homes and some do not. In fact, many came from very difficult circumstances and they have done amazingly well in their young lives.”
In the “1221” crowd were new Vice President Anne Wortmann, Kim Axene, Noralee Paulson, Jane Rivera, Ginny Savage, Gini Robins, Denise Schuler, Kim Smith, Pam Parker and Suzanne Schamburg to name only a few.
THE CROWD runs Fridays. B.W. Cook is editor of the Bay Window, the official publication of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.
