Boys’ Home Backs Firing

The LeRoy Boys’ Home Corp. overwhelmingly endorsed its board of director’s decision to fire former Executive Director Dan Hanlon, who had worked for the La Verne home for almost 30 years.

About 40 of the home’s 100 corporation members attended a closed-door meeting Tuesday to discuss Hanlon’s dismissal, though more than 90% of the membership was represented through proxy votes, board member William Allen said.

“It was a voice vote that had only four or five negative voices along with it,” Allen said.

Hanlon first came to the home as an abandoned 12-year-old in 1952 and worked at the home almost all his adult life. He was fired by the board of directors Sept. 19 for refusing to accept a reorganization plan under which he was relieved of authority over operations and finances, the home’s attorney said.

Last month, Hanlon sued the home for wrongful termination in Pomona Superior Court, seeking more than $12 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

San Dimas City Councilman Curt Morris, the home’s attorney and a member of the corporation, said the board decided last year that it needed administrators with more expertise in overseeing a nonprofit agency. Morris said Hanlon lacked the educational qualifications the board was seeking for its chief executive officer.

In the wake of Hanlon’s firing, a group of friends and former residents of the boys’ home began writing letters and circulating petitions to seek his reinstatement. The LeRoy Boys’ Home Corp. normally meets once a year in January to receive reports and elect a new board of directors from its membership. It decided on this week’s special meeting to review the board’s dismissal of Hanlon.

More than 30 of Hanlon’s supporters gathered outside the meeting.

Hanlon said he remains optimistic that he will eventually prevail.