Segerstrom Gets Crystal-Clear Recognition

A crystal ball--what business executive couldn’t use one right now?

“In these tough times, I would love to be able to look into the future,” said developer and arts patron Henry T. Segerstrom on Sunday as he hefted the Val St. Lambert crystal sphere he’d just received. “Maybe this is just what I need.”

The sphere represented the first-ever Distinguished Achievement Award of the Decade, presented by the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts at its 10th annual awards ceremony to C.J. Segerstrom & Sons. The award recognized the company’s sustained commitment to the arts.

In the past year, C.J. Segerstrom & Sons contributed $1.2 million in financial support to projects such as the Festival of Britain, the Orange County debut of the Canadian troupe Le Cirque du Soleil, the first U.S. appearance in 12 years of the famed D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, a sculpture display at the Newport Harbor Art Museum, and Art Beat, the first countywide college art exhibition and competition.

Prelude, With Pate

The air seemed nearly as chilly as the champagne when more than 350 guests gathered in the atrium at Pacific Mutual headquarters at Newport Center for the first stop of a two-stage evening.

Servers clad in the shortest of shorts moved through the crowd with trays of shrimp, caviar and salmon d’oeuvres, pausing now and again near the portable heaters to fortify themselves for another pass.

At least one guest found the nighttime temperature downright balmy. Keynote speaker John D. Ong, who flew out from Pennsylvania just for the occasion, said he didn’t mind leaving the East Coast cold behind. Ong, chairman and chief executive officer of the BF Goodrich Co. as well as chairman of the national Business Committee for the Arts Inc., praised the local donors for giving more money to the arts per capita than San Diego or Boston. “And so much of that is private contributions,” Ong said. “You are blessed indeed.”

Ong said the arts are a good investment, returning the dollars contributed back to the community at least fourfold.

In Orange County, he said, the arts return more than $250 million to the local economy.

The Obelisk, Please

First-time winners included Glabman’s Furniture & Interior Design, Ernst & Young, Price Waterhouse, Mervyn’s and Taco Bell Corp. Return award winners were Coopers & Lybrand, Latham & Watkins and the Pacific Telesis Foundation.

Receiving Distinguished Achievement Awards were the Fieldstone Co., the Irvine Co., Security Pacific and The Times Orange County.

All the winners, except Segerstrom, received a Baccarat crystal “Louxer” obelisk on a handcrafted stand donated by Tiffany & Co.

The Laguna Art Museum received the 1991 Arts award, a $1,500 cash grant from Pool Water Products.

The group then adjourned to waiting shuttle buses for the trip to the Ritz restaurant, where they dined on Maryland crab cakes, roast breast of duck with lingonberry sauce, bundles of haricots verts, and a dessert of harlequin creme brulee with white chocolate ice cream framboise.