Obituaries : Albert Zoraster; Longtime Civic Leader

Albert Zoraster, a former Van Nuys resident and longtime civic leader devoted to improving the San Fernando Valley’s transportation systems, has died at a Laguna Beach hospital. He was 89.

A resident of San Clemente since the late 1970s, Zoraster died Monday of cancer, his son, John Zoraster of Altadena, said.

Born Jan. 21, 1906, in Los Angeles, he moved to the Valley in 1920. After graduating from Van Nuys High School in 1922, he leased the poultry farm where he worked and in 1926 formed Albert’s Manufacturing and Supply Co., a commercial hatchery.

Although he never attended college, Zoraster was actively involved with Cal State Northridge for many years, his son said. He founded the university’s President’s Club in 1969 and was a member of the President’s Advisory Board and the CSUN Foundation. He was honored by CSUN President Blenda Wilson for his work on behalf of the university in 1993.

Among his many other achievements, he served as director of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. and was president of the West Valley Associated Chamber of Commerce. In 1975, he received the Valley’s 17th annual Fernando Award.

After retiring to San Clemente, he worked as a member of Orange County’s Southern California Transportation Action Committee and the San Clemente Chamber of Commerce’s transportation committee.

He is survived by his wife of 17 years, Christine; four sons, David Zoraster of Burbank, Steven Zoraster of Austin, Tex., John Zoraster of Altadena, and Richard Zoraster of Laguna Beach; a stepdaughter, Linda Padgham of Edmonton, Alberta, and eight grandchildren.

A funeral will be held at 10 a.m. today at Lorenzen Mortuary, 19300 Sherman Way, Reseda. Internment will follow at Forest Lawn’s Hollywood Hills cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to the Zoraster Valley Pioneer Scholarship Fund and the Zoraster Endowment for Adaptive Physical Education in care of CSUN’s University Development Office, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge 91330.