Social Circuits

Annenberg Tribute

Calling her a woman who has “given a lifetime of service to others,” former President Gerald R. Ford presented Leonore Annenberg with the inaugural Pat Nixon Ambassador of Goodwill Award at a benefit netting $175,000 for the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda.

Annenberg, U.S. chief of protocol under President Reagan and wife of diplomat and publishing magnate Walter H. Annenberg (who was unable to attend the gala), thanked Ford and went on to praise her friend, Pat Nixon, who died in 1993: “She was a global ambassador of goodwill, representing the United States with dignity and poise.”

The same could be said of Annenberg, observed Julie Nixon Eisenhower, who worked with the library to create the new award in honor of her mother.

“Mrs. Annenberg is a great diplomat. She has represented America in the Court of St. James [when her husband was ambassador] and in her humanitarian efforts in medicine, education and the arts.”

About 350 guests, including former President Richard M. Nixon’s brother, Edward Nixon, former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and David Eisenhower, dined on grilled filet of beef with truffle sauce at tables decorated with bouquets of yellow roses--Pat Nixon’s favorite flower.

Also attending the Jan. 9 event, which marked what would have been Richard Nixon’s 89th birthday: Betty Ford, Pete Wilson, Nixon library board chairman Donald L. Bendetti and his wife Dorothy, Gaddi Vasquez, Gerald R. Parsky, Julia “Judie” Argyros, Judith Rodin, Katherine B. Loker, John Argue and John Barr.

--Ann Conway

Coming Up:

* California Science Center celebrates its fourth anniversary Feb. 2 with a sneak preview of the center’s new Air and Space Gallery at the annual Discovery Ball. Tickets: $400. Call (213) 744-2035.

* The 14th annual Frank Sinatra Celebrity Invitational Golf Tournament, hosted by Barbara Sinatra and Angie Dickinson, is set for Feb. 8-9 at Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Desert Willow Golf Resort. Proceeds from the day’s events support Eisenhower Medical Center’s Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center. Call (800) 377-8277.

* Mary Ann Jenkins and Jim Watterson are chairing the Pasadena Symphony’s annual benefit, “Carnival in Rio,” Feb. 9 at Pasadena’s Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel & Spa. Tickets: $250 per person. Call (626) 793-7172.

* The seventh annual Mardi Gras 2002: Fat Tuesday Celebration, benefiting Methodist Hospital of Arcadia’s neonatal facilities, will be Feb. 12 at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, Arcadia. Tickets: $60 in advance; $75 on the day of the event. Call (626) 821-2312.

* The USC School of Social Work will honor “Judging Amy” star Tyne Daly at its annual dinner, “A Celebration of the Heart,” on Feb. 14 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Tickets start at $200. Call (213) 740-8625.

* The Foundation for Cardiovascular and Transplant Research will honor Lifetime Television’s new series, “Strong Medicine,” and James Redford, founder-president of James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness, at the second annual Gift of the Heart Valentine’s Ball on Feb. 20 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Tickets: $300. (323) 650-0001, Ext. 24.

* The Help Group, which serves young people with autism, will honor Warner Bros. exec Bruce Rosenblum and his wife, Ande, with the 2002 Spirit of Hope Award at the fifth annual Teddy Bear Ball on Feb. 23 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf will receive the corporate philanthropy award. Tickets: $250. Call (818) 779-5212.

* Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks presents Xine and Friends in a chamber music concert Feb. 23 in Samuelson Chapel to benefit the Parkinson’s Institute Movement Disorders Research and Treatment Center. Tickets: $25 for adults; $10 for students/seniors. Call (805) 493-3195.

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Information for Social Circuits can be directed to Patt Diroll in Los Angeles or Ann Conway in Orange County. Diroll is at pattdiroll@earthlink.net; Conway at ann.conway@latimes.com, or (714) 966-5952.