SYLMAR : Street Memorializes Late Civic Leader

A street serving the new Metrolink station in Sylmar will be named after Frank Modugno, a longtime community leader who died this year, the Los Angeles City Council decided Tuesday.

“Rather than naming the new street ‘Metrolink Drive,’ it would be appropriate that this new street is named after a member of the Sylmar community who was widely known as a civic and business leader who worked tirelessly to improve his community,” stated the motion authored by Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents the area.

The street will be dubbed Frank Modugno Drive.

Modugno, who was 74 when he died, was chairman of the DARE anti-drug program created by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District from 1987 to 1992. He was involved in such civic organizations as the Kiwanis Club, Elks Club and the San Fernando Chamber of Commerce and worked to preserve the San Fernando Mission.

Modugno served on the board of many organizations, including Holy Cross Community Hospital in Mission Hills and the Boy Scouts of America. Modugno also worked for Los Angeles County Supervisor Warren Doran from 1970 to 1976 and for state Sen. Alan Robbins from 1980 to 1992.

Professionally, Modugno started the Modugno Brothers Distributing Co., a beverage distributor now managed by his sons, Pat and Steve Modugno. He is also survived by his wife, Dorothy, and his daughter, Maria Page.

As Alarcon’s motion put it, “Mr. Modugno remains in the hearts and memories of the many people whose lives he touched.”