Women in Communications to Honor Two at Awards Luncheon April 12

The Los Angeles Professional Chapter of Women in Communications Inc. will honor Dorothy Kirsten French, founder of the John Douglas French Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease, and Los Angeles Times Associate Editor Jean Sharley Taylor at its Women of the Press Awards Luncheon on April 12 at the Four Seasons Hotel.

French will be recognized as the “Woman in the News” for having created a national awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. The group will honor Taylor as the “Woman Behind the News” for her achievements as a journalist and one of only two female associate editors responsible for daily sections on major metropolitan newspapers.

Women in the news who have received the award in the past include Nancy Reagan, Lucille Ball, Pat Nixon and Clare Boothe Luce. Past “Women Behind the News” recipients include Helen Thomas, Liz Trotter, Abigail Van Buren and Louella Parsons.

Proceeds from the luncheon will benefit the chapter’s Scholarship and Education Fund, which provides scholarships to college and university students in the communications field. Luncheon chairs are Norma Bowles and Barbara Trister.