Bookkeeper Honored for Program That Helps Adults Learn to Read

The announcement on the radio seemed almost tragic to Rusty Kostick, a woman who derives great joy from novels, magazines and newspapers.

“I had heard that there were adults that couldn’t read,” said Kostick, a Culver City resident in recalling her reaction five years ago when she heard a public service announcement seeking volunteers to work with illiterate adults. “Reading is such an important part of my life that I thought it was so important to help teach them.”

Kostick, who said she reads everything from novels to milk cartons and cereal boxes, followed up on the impulse by founding the Culver City Adult Reading Program. Since 1985, the program, which uses about 65 volunteer tutors and the Laubach phonetic teaching method, has taught more than 100 adults to read.

The 62-year-old bookkeeper was recently honored by Laubach Literacy Action with its 1990 award for excellency in keeping volunteer tutors.

Each year, about 80% of her tutors volunteer again for the program, which is sponsored by the Culver City Unified School District, Friends of the Culver City Library and others, she said.

Although she was “overwhelmed” by being one of only 15 people in the country honored by the Laubach group this year, she said her real satisfaction is seeing someone learn.

“Many of the people who come into the program as students were taught that they couldn’t learn to read, that they weren’t smart enough,” she said. “When we work with them and they find they can, they get so excited.”

For more information on the program, call (213) 559-9543.

The Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce and Civic Assn. has named William C. Boyd, a founder and former editor of San Francisco Business magazine, as its executive vice president.

Boyd, who has also worked with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, will be given the duties of marketing Beverly Hills as a headquarters city for national and international corporations, chamber President Edward Brown said.

Santa Monica Hospital Medical Center has honored Robert A. Craig, who retired after 33 years with the hospital.

The Malibu resident was treasurer of the hospital’s fund-raising and development foundation when he retired. He held several positions, including executive director, with the hospital during his career.

The UCLA Foundation has appointed John E. Anderson, president of Topa Equities Ltd., to a two-year term as president.

Anderson, a Bel-Air resident who donated $15 million to the UCLA Graduate School of Management in 1987, has been a UCLA Foundation trustee since 1984. The nonprofit foundation accepts and administers private contributions to the university.

Anderson succeeds Eugene S. Rosenfeld.

Loyola Marymount University has appointed Matthew X. Fissinger as its new admissions director.

Fissinger, who was associate director of admissions at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass., is a graduate of Boston College.

He succeeds Michel E. L’Heureux, who retired after 23 years with the university.

The Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles has named Rabbi Lavey J. Derby as director of its Council on Jewish Life.

Derby, a psychotherapist, is the former director of program development for the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership in New York.