Finalists to Be Named for Fernando Award

Among the 18 nominees for this year’s Fernando Award honoring public service is a pharmacist who quickly reopened his business after the Northridge earthquake and a doctor who researched new techniques to help burn victims.

Since 1958, the Fernando Award annually recognizes an individual for a lifetime of community service in the Valley. The field of candidates--nominated by Valley chambers of commerce and past award recipients--will be narrowed to five finalists at a luncheon Friday at the Sheraton Universal Hotel.

The pharmacist is Barry Pascal, owner of the Northridge Pharmacy and Gift Gallery. The researcher is Dr. Richard Grossman, founder of the Foundation for Burn Research, a nonprofit laboratory developing treatments for severely burned patients using cloned skin.

Also on this year’s list are Kenneth C. Banks, a North Hollywood insurance broker; Walter Mosher, co-founder of Precision Dynamics Corp. in Pacoima, and Nancy Schmidt, manager of the Sherman Oaks branch of American Pacific State Bank. All three were finalists for last year’s award.

Two other nominees from last year on the list are Bernward Thorsch, owner of Studio City Camera Exchange, and Robert L. Scott, a San Fernando Valley lawyer. Benjamin Reznik, a Sherman Oaks planning use lawyer, a 1994 finalist, has been nominated again.

Other nominees are Fred Baron of West Hills, a volunteer reserve policeman; Lisa Gershwin-Nelson, a marine biologist-researcher at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium; Rose Goldwater, first woman president of the San Fernando Valley Business and Professional Chapter for Retinitis Pigmentosa; Sue Houle, executive director of the Alice-In-Wonderland Volunteer Service, a group that helps senior citizens in the Valley; Dr. Farideh Kioumehr, head of the International Health and Epidemiology Research Center in Sherman Oaks; Walter N. Prince, head of Executive Suite Services, a building maintenance firm in Northridge; Irwin Silon, a retired graphic artist from Arleta; Philip A. “Flip” Smith, owner of Flip’s Tire Center in Van Nuys; R.C. “Dick” Starr of Sun Valley, and Alan B. Ungar, president of Financial Counsel Inc. of Calabasas.