Same Name, Different Person

Your financial section on Feb. 18 was read by many people who started telephoning me before sunrise. Like Shakespeare’s Romeo, they asked: “What’s in a Name”?

Maybe I can answer that. A name is more than what you make it; it’s also what the public perceives it to be. Your story about the ailing savings and loan described a Jack Caldwell with a prison record, now suspected of fraud in Riverside County. My son-in-law called early and asked “Are you any relation to this Jack Caldwell in the newspaper? I’m having enough trouble explaining to friends who you are; now I have to tell them who you are not.”

Well, I am Jack Caldwell, and I do a lot of business in Riverside County, as well as Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. I have handled substantial amounts of capital. I am currently president of Pacific Shores Management Corporation, persident of Val Vista Estates Inc. and chairman of Lido Pacific Group.

My only police record is a citation for parking two hours in a one-hour zone when I took the police chief to lunch. My wife, Nancy, and I live in Corona del Mar, and proud parents of three children; grandparents of seven. I am a member of the Sheriff’s Advisory Council-Orange County, vice president of Orange County Philharmonic Society, member of Rancheros Visistadores, Fellow in American Society of Engineers, Balboa Bay Club, Balboa Yacht Club and the Pacific Club. My past involvements include: President’s Advisory Board of California State University at Fullerton and trustee of Community Church Congregational in Corona del Mar.

If my name were Smith or Jones, I’d expect a few ex-cons to have similar names just because of the law of averages. But I never dreamed The Times would carry a story about a suspect with the name of Caldwell, and Jack Caldwell at that. Can’t you give the guy an alias? Or perhaps I should drop mine.

H. L. JACK CALDWELL

Corona del Mar