Insurance Agent Gets Probation Panel Post

When Studio City insurance agent Jacob Castroll came to the United States in 1971 as a foreign-exchange student from Israel, the last thing he pictured himself doing was becoming a member of the Los Angeles County Probation Commission.

Yet that is exactly what happened last week, when county Supervisor Mike Antonovich named Castroll to the 10-member commission.

“It’s not something I ever thought about but it is something I am very honored to do,” said Castroll, the managing agent at State Farm Insurance on Ventura Boulevard. “It’s an honor when people think you can contribute positively to the community and I intend on doing that.”

As a member of the commission, Castroll will be responsible for advising the chief county probation officer on a variety of issues, including the supervision of juvenile offenders.

Castroll, 49, and a resident of West Los Angeles, was selected to the commission after more than 20 years of public service since his graduation from UCLA.

He is a past president of the Studio City-Sherman Oaks Chapter of Rotary International and has also been the chapter’s international director, community director and secretary. He was the youth-exchange coordinator, a position in which he supervised foreign exchange students coming to and leaving the United States.

“His long history of public service to the community and interest in solving community problems caught the supervisor’s eye,” said Cam Currie, a spokesman for Antonovich’s office. “We expect to benefit greatly from his experience and energy.”

Castroll will become an official member of the commission at its meeting Wednesday, he said.