Otis School of Fashion Design a Big Winner

Otis School of Fashion Design honored designer Max Azria of clothing company BCBG with its Fashion Leadership Award and Al Kahn of 4 Kids Entertainment with the 2000 Leadership Award at the eighth annual Otis Critics’ Awards Fashion Show at the Beverly Hilton on May 6. The sold-out event raised $850,000 for student scholarships. Rosemary Brantley, founding chairwoman of Otis, sends word that Otis has received six of the 10 scholarships awarded by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. . . .

Members of Helping Hand of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center honored Vanna White as mother of the year at its 71st annual Mothers Day Luncheon on May 5 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. . . .

The Pasadena Art Alliance’s 10th biennial art auction on May 6 featured the works of 95 artists and raised $100,000 for arts education programs. . . .

Mary Potter & Company, a support group at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, raised $18,000 at its luncheon and fashion show staged aboard the Princess Cruise Line’s luxury liner Regal Princess on May 5. The funds are earmarked for the Women’s and Children’s Health Department and the Sexual Assault Response Team Program. . . .

The second annual Around the Globe gala on the Queen Mary in Long Beach raised more than $70,000 for the $6-million capital campaign to expand San Pedro Peninsula Hospital’s emergency department and to build a new health education center. . . .

Ginny Mancini was honored May 1 at the 14th annual dinner of the Vine Street Irregulars, a Hollywood music industry veterans reunion group. The stellar guest list included Randy Van Horne, George Wyle, Tony Martin, Cyd Charisse, Herb Jeffries, Dick Williams (Andy’s brother), Marilyn King and the fabled songwriting duo Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. . . .

The Pasadena Playhouse’s spring benefit, A Day in the Garden, held May 13 at Leslie and Peter Tolan’s Pasadena estate (the Carrington mansion of “Dynasty” fame), raised more than $48,000. . . .

Gilbert Cates, founding dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television was lauded at a tribute co-hosted by UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale, Dean Robert Rosen and Edie and Lew Wasserman on May 10. . . .

California First Lady Sharon Davis received the Annual Teen Line Humanitarian Award on May 3 at the organization’s Food for Thought Luncheon. Teen Line is a confidential toll-free help line for teenage callers. . . .

The Anti-Defamation League presented its Deborah Awards 2000 to Carol E. Schatz, Cici Holloway, Cora M. Telle and Ann Marie Wheelock at it sixth annual Women of Achievement Dinner on May 25. . . .

Sherry Lansing received a Shining Spirit Award from Candice Bergen at the 47th annual Boomtown party sponsored by SHARE on May 13. President Marilyn Katleman and event Chairwoman Esther Rosenfeld report that the evening raised $1.5 million. . . .

An evening of Gershwin music performed by Michael Feinstein at the home of Ann and John Nickoll on May 11 raised more than $500,000 for programs sponsored by Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles. . . .

Operation: Children honored Meryl Marshall, chief executive of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, as its woman of the year at the annual fashion luncheon on May 11 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. . . .

L.A. Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott Gordon was among the honorees at the third annual Gospel Brunch and Humanitarian Awards Benefit hosted by the L.A. Commission on Assaults Against Women at the House of Blues on May 7. Television producer Arnold Shapiro and Denise McGee, a commission volunteer, were also honored for their efforts on behalf of domestic violence issues. . . .

Suzanne Somers received the first Rick Weiss Humanitarian Award at a black-tie gala at the Santa Monica Loews Hotel on May 19. The event sponsored by Project New Hope, an L.A.-based provider of affordable housing for people living with HIV/AIDS, raised $250,000. . . .

Dr. Buddha, a pug pooch from Malibu’s Create-a-Smile program, was among the honorees at the annual Recognition Luncheon sponsored by the Foundation for the Junior Blind on May 17. Other honorees were Laruga Johnson and her mother, Beverly, Elaine and Andy Tran, Linda Chung, Hansey DeLeon, Warren Greene, Irving Wershow, Milton Rosenberg and Carlos Diaz. . . .

L.A. Times columnist Sandy Banks, Carolyn Mahboubi Amin, and Frances Teller were honored by the National Council of Jewish Women/Los Angeles at its first Hannah G. Solomon Awards on May 18. . . .

Larry and Shawn King hosted the Larry King Cardiac Foundation gala on May 8 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel honoring Gerald Levin, chief executive of Time Warner, with the Heart Award. . . . Sue Laris, Nelson Davis, Deborah McDuff Williams and Merrill Lynch were the honorees at the Entrepreneurial Spirit Awards Dinner sponsored by the Women’s Enterprise Development Corp. on May 9 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire. . . . On May 12, Cardinal Roger Mahony received the first Spiritus Award sponsored by the Social Service Auxiliary, which supports the work of the Sisters of the Social Service. . . . The estate of Francine and Dal Alan Swain was the setting for the Annual 200 Associates Membership Tea to benefit Holy Family Adoptions & Foster Care. . . . Venice-based St. Joseph Center for homeless and low-income families honored LeVar Burton at its benefit, A Universe of Possibilities, on May 13 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey. . . . Twin brothers and environmentalists Bob and Bill Meistrell, owners of Body Glove International, received the John M. Olguin Marine Environment Award at San Pedro’s Cabrillo Marine Aquarium’s annual Grand Grunion Gala fund-raiser on May 20. . . .

Franklin Otis Booth Jr. and Dr. and Mrs. S. Jerome Tamkin were the honorees at the 18th annual Dinosaur Ball sponsored by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The black-tie evening held May 20 raised more than $390,000. . . . The Associates for Breast & Prostate Cancer Studies at John Wayne Cancer Institute honored Elizabeth An, Lorraine Morton and Beverly Sassoon as Women of Achievement at its spring luncheon on May 18. . . . Wheels for Humanity, the organization that refurbishes used, donated wheelchairs and donates them to Third World countries raised more than $150,000 at its auction at the Skirball Cultural Center on May 19. . . .

Gerald Oppenheimer, Donna Crean and Robert G. Kirby were honored by Children’s Bureau of Los Angeles at its 95th anniversary celebration at the Regent Beverly Wilshire. Sandra Ausman, Constance Towers Gavin and Patricia McQueeney co-chaired the evening, which raised $150,000. . . .

Dolores Munoz was honored as the 50th Mexican Mother of the Year at a Mass and luncheon at Our Lady Queen of Angels, La Placita Church, on May 13. . . . Jane G. Pisano, executive vice president of USC, was named Woman of Distinction by Soroptimist International of Los Angeles on May 20 at a luncheon benefit for the group’s shelter for abused women and children. . . .