The guest speaker at our next meeting will be Laura Schmieder, so be sure to register right away!

Check out the list of registered attendees to see who’s coming!

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Pami Ozaki has designed and installed almost a hundred gardens in the Los Angeles area since 1989 when she came to LA to live in Topanga Canyon. Some of her clients have included: Madonna, Tom Hanks, Richard and Lili Zanuck, Brian Grazer, Sela Ward, Raymond Brown, Martin Short, Lea Remini and so on.

Her designs and installations include large estate projects, private entertainment centers, as well as back yard renovations, English gardens, drought tolerant landscapes, Japanese gardens, etc. She does “wetscape” design and installation: ponds, streams, waterfalls, fountains; hardscape design and installation: patios, outdoor kitchens, pavilions, gazebos, fire pits, (she is currently designing a loggia and citrus orchard at Serra Retreat), and lighting and irrigation design and installation.

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Gillian Lange founded the Amanda Foundation in 1975 and Lange Foundation in 1993, and has been responsible for saving the lives of animals of well over 25,000 otherwise hopeless impounded animals during the last 37 years.

With absolutely no leadership abilities, her commitment and passion for the cause in which she so deeply believes has enabled Lange Foundation to become the leader in animal rescue in Southern California.

The Lange Foundation’s halfway home kennel in West L.A. is a magnet for volunteers and potential adopters, and St.Bonnie’s Sanctuary in Canyon Country has enabled the foundation to expand their work to include the rescue and placement of horses. Lange Foundation is currently caring for approximately 250 cats, dogs and horses, and places between 650 and 700 pets a year. For more information about the foundation and the animals under its care please visit www.langefoundation.org

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Susan M Love, MD, MBA has dedicated her professional life to the eradication of breast cancer. As President of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, she oversees an active research program centered on breast cancer cause and prevention. She is also a Clinical Professor of Surgery at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.

Her reputation as an activist comes from her role as one of the “founding mothers” of the breast cancer advocacy movement in the early 1990’s by being one of the founders of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC). She continues this work by serving on the boards of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, and Young Survival Coalition. She served on the National Cancer Advisory Board from 1998-2004 as an appointment of President Clinton.

Dr. Susan Love is best known as a trusted guide to women worldwide through her books and the Foundation website. The completely revised fifth edition of Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book termed “the bible for women with breast cancer” by The New York Times; was released October 2010. It has been translated into German, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese and Hebrew. Dr. Susan Love’s Menopause and Hormone Book, first published in 1998 and revised in 2003, was one of the first to sound the alarm against the long term use of postmenopausal hormones and Live a Little (Crown 2009) encourages women to be healthy without driving yourself crazy.

A true visionary, Susan Love’s most recent project, the Love/Avon Army of Women, is a creative Internet solution to partner women and scientists in order to accelerate basic translational research. Thanks to a generous grant from the Avon Foundation for Women, the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation launched the Army of Women campaign in October 2008. The campaign is recruiting one million women who are willing to consider participating in research to find the cause and prevention of breast cancer. This novel initiative will move research from animals to women, democratizing the scientific process.

Dr. Love received her medical degree from SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York, did her surgical training at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital. She founded the Faulkner Breast Center in Boston and the Revlon UCLA Breast Center in Los Angeles. She has a business degree from the Executive MBA program at UCLA’s Anderson School. In 1996 she retired from the active practice of surgery, to dedicate her time to the urgent pursuit of finding the cause and prevention of breast cancer. The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, a 501 (c ) 3 non-profit breast cancer foundation has over $4 million dollars in peer reviewed grants and is pioneering novel techniques to identify young women at risk for breast cancer as well as local therapy directly into the milk ducts to prevent breast cancer.

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Speaking at our next event will be David Siegel, Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles. Mr. Siegel assumed the post in August 2011, where he serves as the senior representative of the State of Israel to the Southwestern United States.

Most recently, Mr. Siegel served as Chief of Staff to Israel’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this role, he was involved in policy formulation and decision-making at the senior levels of Israel’s foreign policy establishment.

Previously, Mr. Siegel served two terms at the Embassy of Israel in Washington D.C., in successive roles as Chief of Staff to three of Israel’s Ambassadors to the United States, Counselor for Congressional Affairs, and Spokesperson. In these capacities, which spanned nearly a decade and two U.S. Administrations, Mr. Siegel was deeply involved in policy coordination with the State Department, the National Security Council and the White House. He was Israel’s voice to the Washington press corps and liaison to the U.S. Congress, where he was responsible for security cooperation, missile defense and homeland security. During these years, Mr. Siegel participated in the 1998 Wye River Peace Summit, the 1999 Israel-Syria negotiations, and the Camp David Middle East Peace Summit in the Fall of 2000.

Consul General Siegel has also served in senior posts at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, including Director of the International Organizations Department and Political Counselor in the North American Division. He began his diplomatic career as Deputy Chief of Mission at Israel’s Embassy in Eritrea, in the Horn of Africa, and subsequently became Charge’ d’Affaires.

Mr. Siegel graduated from the University of Vermont with a B.A. in Political Science and earned a Masters Degree in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston. He served as a Commander in the Israel Defense Forces.

Consul General Siegel is married to Myra Clark-Siegel, and they have three young children.

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Speaking at our next event will be Donelle Dadigan. She is founder and president of two not-for-profit organizations. The José Iturbi Foundation, created together with Marion Seabury, Iturbi’s companion and secretary, in 1985, is dedicated to sharing the wonders of classical arts and music. The Hollywood Museum provides an in-depth opportunity to experience close up the evolving history of the entertainment industry.

Donelle is the god-daughter of Iturbi, the famed conductor, concert pianist and harpsichordist, and Marion Seabury, and began her piano studies with José’s sister Amparo when she was not yet five years old. She had the distinction of being Amparo’s youngest student ever and is the only pianist to have been taught by both Iturbis. Donelle has won many music awards and has performed internationally. She has a music degree from UCLA.

After her father passed away José Iturbi became an even more important part of Donelle’s life. She credits him with teaching her the important lessons in life, including the need to help shape the lives of others and giving back to the community.

The Hollywood Museum was a labor of love for Dadigan. She has dedicated it to the history and heritage of Hollywood and the entertainment industry by documenting, preserving and exhibiting the largest collection every assembled of costumes and personal effects of hundreds of stars including Marilyn Monroe, Russell Crowe, Elvis Presley, Lucille Ball and Johnny Depp. Even José Iturbi starred in many great motion pictures of the 1940s and he has a star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame.

Today Dadigan is the chairperson of the Hollywood Historic Trust, which controls the sidewalks where the Walk of Fame stars are located. She took over this duty from the late Johnny Grant, honorary mayor of Hollywood, who left her and the museum his vast collection of memorabilia.

Dadigan is also on the Board of Directors of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and chairperson of the Chamber’s Tourism Committee. She participates and serves on the boards of many service organizations, including Hollywood Entertainment District, the award-winning LACER (Literacy, Arts, Culture, Education, Recreation) after school programs, Hollywood Toys for Tots, Hollywood High School, PATH, the Hollywood Police Activities League, and the Hollywood Historic Trust.

She has received innumerable awards including the California Art Deco Society Preservation Award, the State of California Preservation Award, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce’s Woman of Distinction Award, the Woman Entrepreneur Distinction Award from the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Charlie Chaplin Award. She has been recognized by the Travel and Tourism Marketing Association of Southern California, the State of California Travel Industry with the Best New Tourist Attraction, and by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) for Preservation of Entertainment Industry History.

She was named Beverly Hills Woman of the Year in 2005 and in 2010 received the Hollywood Police Activities League Community Leadership Award.

Donelle has received commendations and certificates from many of California’s civic leaders, including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante, Governor Gray Davis, Assembleywoman Jackie Goldberg, Congresswoman Diane Watson, Assemblyman Paul Koretz, the last three Los Angeles Mayors—Richard Riordan, James Hahn and Antonio Villariagosa; City Council President John Ferraro, City Council President Eric Garcetti, Councilmember Tom LaBonge, Hollywood’s Honorary Mayor Johnny Grant, State Senator Kevin DeLeon and Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavski

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Speaking at our next event will be three of our very own members! They will be discussing their passion for design and display some of their creations.

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The mission of the Cancer Support Community-Benjamin Center is to ensure that all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action, and sustained by community. All programs and services are provided at no cost to community members.

Please join us as we honor two remarkable women:

Abby Brown and Barbra Night

Wednesday, November 2, 2011
at the Skirball Cultural Center

10:30 am – 1:30 pm

Featuring Ask the Author – Living the Inspired Life

A diverse panel of authors will participate in a lively, moderated discussion

Beveryle Hyman Fead, I Can Do This

Kimberly Fowler The No Om Zone

Dr. Susan Love, Dr.Susan Love’s Breast Book

The afternoon also includes delicious food and a fabulous boutique and silent auction. Don’t miss it!

Click here to learn more. Register today!

All contributions received by September 23, 2011 will be listed with “Special Thanks” in the Tribute Journal.

Contact us at 310.314.2589 or ctrinchieri@cancersupportcommunitybenjamincenter.org with questions, for help with registration or Tribute Ads, or if you would like to receive an invitation via mail.