A Close-Up Look At People Who Matter : NAACP Leader From Pacoima to Be Honored

Jose DeSosa, president of the California State Conference of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, has been chosen to receive the Roy Wilkins Award from the association’s San Fernando Valley branch.

DeSosa, of Pacoima, former president of the NAACP’s Valley branch, will be honored at the annual Freedom Fund Awards Banquet Dec. 30 in Burbank.

The award is for contributions to civil rights and political and social advocacy.

Under DeSosa’s leadership, the local branch waged protests against the Los Angeles Police Department’s use of a battering ram in a Pacoima home, monitored the criminal trial of police officers accused of beating Rodney G. King, and lashed out at Burbank and San Fernando for not recognizing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as an employee holiday.

“He’s been a very active man; he’s given of himself selflessly,” said the Rev. Zedar E. Broadous, president of the Valley branch.

Also at the dinner, the Rev. Cecil (Chip) Murray of the First AME Church in Los Angeles will be presented the H. Claude Hudson Award for social and political awareness and community involvement.

Dr. Blenda J. Wilson, president of Cal State Northridge, will receive the Rita Walters Education Award.

Robert Winn, third vice president of the local branch and chairman of the labor and industry committee, will receive the Ray Arnold Award for community involvement.

Glendale resident William D. Parente has been appointed president and chief executive officer at Santa Monica Hospital Medical Center. Parente had served as interim president since June.

Parente served for nine years as president and chief executive officer of Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center.

A graduate of Princeton University in New Jersey, Parente receive his master’s degree in health-care administration from Cornell University.

Parente is active with the American College of Healthcare Executives, Healthcare Executives of Southern California, the Hospital Council of Southern California and is chairman-elect of the California Assn. of Hospitals and Health Systems.

Sunland resident Jenny Buntich has been awarded a Community Service Scholarship to Mount St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles. Buntich, 18, is a graduate of Alemany High School in Mission Hills. She started her nursing studies at the college in September.

The scholarship is awarded to students who have served their community and have maintained a 3.2 grade point average. Buntich’s $4,000 scholarship is renewable each year if she completes 350 hours of service annually, she said.

Buntich, who graduated high school with a 3.7 grade point average, plans to continue working with the Assn. of Catholic Student Councils and Campus Ministry.

Mauricio Osorio, a graduate of James Monroe High School, has been awarded a $1,000 Laura E. Settle Scholarship Award by Cal State Northridge. The scholarship was established in memory of Settle, founder of the California Retired Teachers Assn.

Joel A. Schiffman, one of the main forces in West Hills’ breaking away from Canoga Park in 1986, received a slew of awards at a surprise 40th birthday party Dec. 11.

“It was completely overwhelming,” Schiffman said. “It was very motivating for me.” Schiffman, who founded and was the first president of the West Hills Property Owners Assn., was given a porcelain eagle from the group.

“He’s an attorney. We always call him our legal eagle,” current association president Dayton Clark said.

Schiffman, an attorney for Great Western Bank, also received commendations from City Councilwoman Laura Chick, Gov. Pete Wilson, Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson, U. S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, and Supervisors Michael Antonovich and Ed Edelman.

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