Lee Alpert Wins Fernando Award

Northridge attorney Lee Kanon Alpert was named Friday night as winner of the 41st annual Fernando Award, given to the San Fernando Valley individual who best exemplifies the spirit of volunteerism.

Alpert, former president of the Los Angeles Building and Safety Commission, was recently named to the Commission on Neighborhood Councils by Mayor Richard Riordan.

He is president of Encino-Tarzana Hospital and is active on the Cal State Northridge Advisory Board.

“I’m kind of stunned right now,” Alpert, 53, said from the award ceremony at the Warner Center Marriott. “It’s a wonderful feeling to be honored by the people you live and work with.”

Alpert received a bronze statuette of Fernando--the spirit of the Valley represented as a young Native American. The winner’s name also is inscribed on a statue at the Van Nuys Civic Center and on an obelisk at Warner Park in Woodland Hills.

Five finalists, nominated by previous winners and local chambers of commerce, were named at a luncheon in August in Universal City. They were selected from 14 nominees, including a doctor, lawyers, business and community leaders and heads of charitable groups.

The other finalists were:

* Rose Goldwater of Woodland Hills, a community activist who is the founding chairwoman of the West Hills Hospital Community Advisory Board and is active in the Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce;

* Ruth Richter of Winnetka, owner of West Valley Cycle Sales in Winnetka, who is active with the San Fernando Valley Mobile Action Committee and the Police Action League;

* Bob Scott, a West Hills lawyer and Los Angeles city planning commissioner who co-founded the Valley Economic Development Center and is a member of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn.

* Robert D. Voit of Newport Beach, a developer and community activist who built Warner Center in Woodland Hills and helped establish the West Valley Boys & Girls Club in Woodland Hills.