Giving Back Is Natural for Some

When the Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart scandal started to unfold last year, 65-year-old Ed Cholakian of Granada Hills sprang into action to revive the LAPD Blue Ribbon campaign he started nearly a decade ago after the Rodney G. King incident.

“The police do things that are good for this community,” Cholakian said. “You don’t chastise everybody for the actions of a few.”

Back in 1991, feeling “downhearted” about the organization that he has supported for 40 years, Cholakian started the ribbon-wearing campaign in an effort to help restore the credibility of the embattled police force.

“My fingers were sore,” he remembers of the estimated thousands of ribbons he and others cut, pinned to cards and distributed at civic meetings throughout the Valley.

“I wanted to back the Blue anyway I could,” he said. “When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a policeman.”

Instead, Cholakian’s dream has been realized through volunteer activities. He is being honored as a 2000 Fernando Award finalist for a lifetime of community service in the San Fernando Valley.

“Being nominated is a thrill,” he said. “Why do I do this? I try to eke out a little bit of goodness and hope that maybe others can too.”

Cholakian has served and remains on numerous LAPD advisory councils and boards, was LAPD citizen of the year in 1987 and is now vice president of the Foothill division’s Jeopardy program--an after-school program designed to keep at-risk youth out of gangs.

In addition, the Granada Hills resident of 35 years has served on various civic committees, boards and foundations throughout the Valley, including those for two Sylmar-based organizations, the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center and International Guiding Eyes--which helps raise and train guide dogs for the blind.

He was nominated for the Fernando award by the Sylmar Woman’s Club--of which he has been an honorary member since 1988.

This is the first time Cholakian has been nominated.

*

Marvin Selter, 72, of Studio City, is also a first-time nominee who, since 1968, has been a leading Valley executive consulting local businesses with an eye to community issues.

Selter is the current chairman and has been a board member since 1977 of the Valley Economic Development Center, a Van Nuys-based nonprofit group that offers loans and consulting to small businesses.

He has also served on the board of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. of Woodland Hills since 1985 and the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley since 1995.

Selter said he is most proud of his association since 1990 with Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, especially its Healthy Beginnings program, which educates low-income women on prenatal care and how to care for a baby during its first year.

Affordable education is another of his key concerns. As a member of the board of the University of Judaism since 1984, he has been instrumental in securing scholarships for deserving students interested in Judaic studies.

“I was amazed” at being nominated for the Fernando Award, he said. “This community has been very good to me. This is my way of giving back.”

*

Other finalists for the 42nd annual Fernando Award are three-time nominee Rickey Gelb of Encino; 14-time nominee Rose Goldwater of Woodland Hills and five-time nominee Bob Scott of West Hills.

The winner, to be announced at a Nov. 3 banquet at the Warner Center Marriott, will receive an Oscar-like statuette representing the Native Americans who first lived in the Valley.

The winner’s name will also be etched into the base of the Fernando monument in Van Nuys Civic Center and on an obelisk in Warner Center.

Personal Best is a weekly profile of an ordinary person who does extraordinary things. Please send suggestions on prospective candidates to Personal Best, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Or fax them to (818) 772-3338. Or e-mail them to valley.news@latimes.com.