Preuss Benefit Makes a Good First Impression

Name a party “First Impressions” and you do two quite different things: You leave yourself wide open to snide remarks in the event of a less-than-stunning affair, and you make it clear that the party intends to carve itself a permanent niche on the ever-more-crowded annual calendar.

Saturday’s “First Impressions,” a smashing gala for the Preuss Foundation for Brain Tumor Research given at the new Sheraton Torrey Pines, made exactly the right impression upon its “Who’s Who” guest list of more than 300, many of whom announced plans to sign on for future Preuss galas.

Lavishness and high style seemed the keys to the affair and were made doubly nice by the fact that every penny of the expenses was underwritten by hosts Peggy and Peter Preuss and supporters. Including the proceeds of a brief, post-dinner auction, the party netted more than $130,000, quite high for a mid-sized event and remarkable for one on its first outing.

Peter Preuss, the founder of ISSCO (Integrated Software Systems Corp.) who put aside $3.5 million of his own resources to found the private, nonprofit research foundation after a brain tumor was diagnosed in a family member, put the funds in sharp perspective by noting exactly what they would buy.

“This money will underwrite three postdoctoral careers in brain tumor research for one year,” said Preuss. “Tonight will pay for three grants that we wouldn’t otherwise have been able to make.”

Several potential recipients of these grants were in the Sheraton Grande Ballroom, since the gala followed the foundation’s third annual international conference on brain tumor research. Among the 33 participants were Dr. Hugo Besedovsky of the Kantonspital in Basel, Switzerland; Bengt Westermark of the ancient University of Uppsala in Sweden and Dr. Darrell Bigner, chief of the Preuss Laboratory at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.

Peggy Preuss chaired “First Impressions” and assured that they would be lasting ones by offering a Champagne reception that included a showing of paintings by Hawaii artist Andrea Smith and following that with an extravagant dinner of braised quail with stewed forest mushrooms, venison loin dressed with apricot puree and a dessert of fig ice cream with out-of-season berries.

An evolutionary theme inspired the centerpieces, which rose from a base of vegetables to clustered grapes, peaches and lemons and finally, at their summits, to bursts of exotic gerbera daisies. A group called “The First Class Band” played an eclectic musical menu that ran from rock to swing.

Twin keys to the unusual success of this maiden event were the foundation’s nearly unheard-of pledge that all expenses would be privately defrayed, so that every cent earned by ticket sales would benefit cancer research, and a sizable group of participants who periodically come together to support several institutions. This group, which includes the Preusses, gives particular support to the La Jolla Playhouse, the UC San Diego Cancer Center and to the La Jolla Chamber Music Society, and by and large is present at fund-raisers given by any and all of them. The Preuss Foundation would seem to have been added to the roster.

La Jolla Playhouse benefactor Mandel Weiss, now in his 90s and still dancing, attended, as did a back-on-the-scene Audrey Geisel, Sol and Helen Price, Dominick and Marie Addario, Bill and Virginia Chasey, Mark and Judith Green, Tom and Nell Waltz, Maury and Charmaine Kaplan, Ted and Arline Greene, Ben and Sheri Kelts, Bob and Bea Epsten, Roger and Marilyn Boesky, Luba Johnston, Richard and Harriet Levi, Merrel and Marie Olesen, Marianne McDonald with Adrian Jaffer, Bill and Anne Otterson, Ken and Dixie Unruh, Josiah and Rita Neeper, Herb and Elene Solomon, and Blair and Georgia Sadler.

TIJUANA--The organizers of Sunday’s Gala of the Californias could as aptly have called the event “Building Bridges” or, for that matter, “Building Houses,” since the party in the ballroom of the towering Fiesta Americana hotel achieved those unstated aims quite handily.

Another entry in the brief but lengthening list of cross-border benefits, the gala was jointly sponsored by and given for San Diego County’s Esperanza Consulting Foundation and Tijuana’s Organismo Cultural y Servicio Social Californiano, A.C. The guest list of 300 more or less evenly represented residents of both Californias. Prominent Tijuana residents Alfonso and Emma Bustamante, owners of the Fiesta Americana, shared honorary co-chair duties with fellow hotelier Larry Lawrence, who was represented at the gala by his son Robert.

The event opened with a chatty, let’s-get-to-know-the-neighbors reception in the ballroom foyer, an occasion also used by principals of the nonprofit Esperanza Foundation to get out the message on their novel approach to charity.

Group co-founder Albert Graff of Rancho Santa Fe said that Esperanza took shape in 1984 when five men who had done some charitable work in Tijuana met around his pool to discuss ways in which to expand their efforts.

“We came up with the idea of an independent consulting foundation,” said Graff. “Our idea is to let the community do as much for itself as it can, and our goal always is to get other groups involved.”

A primary Esperanza program allows diverse San Diego volunteer groups to construct basic houses of 200 square feet, which are then given to recipients whom Graff called “the poorest of the poor--people who otherwise never would have a chance to own a home.” About 200 of these houses, which cost about $1,700 each, have been built.

“Our focus is linking needs and resources,” said foundation President Bob Morris. “When someone comes along with an idea, we try to find him a partner.”

Another foundation member, Father John Howard, said proceeds from Sunday’s gala would go primarily to complete a full-service medical clinic now under construction in one of the city’s poorest colonias , or neighborhoods.

An exhibition of the current, ragingly hot lombata dancing followed the dinner of beef Wellington and pastry casitas , or cakes shaped like small houses as reminders of Esperanza’s main charitable effort. Presentations were made to guests of honor Robert and Adele Taylor of Rancho Santa Fe, and to Caridad International, the trans-border charitable group that has linked Tijuanans and San Diegans for more than a decade. A tribute to the memory of Caridad founder Graciela Aldrete was accepted by her daughter, La Jollan Linda Aldrete.

In post-dinner remarks, Tijuana Bishop Emilio Berlie spoke particularly to the guests from the El Norte.

“Tijuana and San Diego are two sister cities, and what a nice thing that the bigger one is helping the smaller,” he said. “It is a great sign for humanity that two cities of such different cultures can be so close and caring.”

The guest list included Erik and Aram Baloyan, Kay and David Porter, Rev. Vaughn Lyons, director of the San Diego County Ecumenical Conference; Carlos and Carolina Bustamante; Gerry and Sally Schoenfelder; Yolanda Walther-Meade; Annette and Joe Fritzenkotter; Gloria Estudillo; Tom and Sara Finn; Arthur and Eleanor Herzman; the Rev. Steve Meineke, Esperanza vice president; Charles and Gloria Melville; Marty Martinez, and Luis Gonzalez, president of Tijuana’s Organismo Cultural y Servicio Social.