Lawyer to Lead Senior Aid Organization

An elder-law attorney with an eye to reaching out to diverse Valley communities is the new president of the board of directors of the Organization for the Needs of the Elderly.

Stuart D. Zimring said a priority for his two-year term is to invite minority leaders to become involved with the board and help make decisions that will affect the elderly.

“It’s a matter of convincing an Hispanic involved in an Hispanic community to work in this organization which, while it’s growing, it does not have a large Hispanic population,” Zimring said.

“It’s important to convince him that this is where his community is going to be in a few years, and to get on board now.”

Zimring said he also hopes to create alternative sources of funding to continue providing services for the 25,000 members of ONE’s Valley Senior Service and Resource Center on Victory Boulevard and the center’s homebound program, as well as those who receive meals and day care.

Zimring, 50, also is president of the Southern California chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He said becoming a ONE board member four years ago was a natural fit with his 12-year career as an attorney who primarily takes on elderly clients and specializes in issues facing seniors.

“How we take care of the elderly is one of the major ways we define ourselves as a society,” Zimring said. “If we don’t do it, who will?”