Former mayor and wife lauded for leadership
Former Burbank Mayor Bob Bowne and his wife, Dianne were recognized for their 30-plus years of leadership, significant contributions and betterment of the community as recipients of the 2011 Woodbury University Movers and Shapers Award during an Oct. 11 luncheon at the school’s Glenoaks Boulevard campus.
Attended by Bowne family members, longtime friends, and a Who’s Who of past and present Burbank civic and corporate leaders, the ceremony, presided over by former Mayor Larry Stamper, included tributes by Councilwoman Emily Gabel-Luddy representing Mayor Jess Talamantes who was in South Korea, developers Vic Georgino and Michael Cusumano, Woodbury University President Kenneth Nielsen, who recently announced he will be retiring in 2012, and former-Burbank City Manager Robert “Bud” Ovrom, who now heads up the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.
Lauding Bowne for his council and mayoral service during what he called “a critical time of transition in the city’s history,” Ovrom said there was no better model for a council member than Bowne. “He was always interested in things that brought people together rather than what tore them apart,” said Ovrom. “He served with the highest level of professionalism and civility.”
Bowne, a local attorney who was elected to the Burbank Unified School District Board and appointed to the Burbank Airport commission, twice held the title of mayor while serving on the city council between 1984 and 1995. A longtime member of the Providence St. Joseph Medical Center Foundation board, he has also served as president of the Burbank Bar Association and Lakeside Golf Club. Dianne, who works with her husband as a paralegal, has been a volunteer with many community organizations including La Providencia Guild of Children’s Hospital and National Charity League.
Among the special guests in attendance at the awards luncheon were the couple’s four children and other family members including Barrett and Allison Schreiner, Kristine, Ryan, Tamara, Shelby and Bob Bowne II. Other notables who honored the Bownes were Jack O’Neill, Marsha Jackson, Gary and Tracy Canfield, Brian and Linda Bowman, Tim and Paula Davis, Don St. Clair, Janet McIntyre, Sue Georgino, Rose Nielsen, Terre Hirsch, Keith Sanneman, Pete McGrath, Katherine Richards, Joan Patricia “J.P.” O’Connor, Greg and John Krikorian, Richard and Rilla Raad, Sunder Ramani, Gary and Linda Oseransky, Gino Gaudio, Tim and Jennifer Davis, Richard Bertain, Tomme Lenz and Laurie Bleik.
