5 Finalists Named for Fernando Award
The five finalists for this year’s Fernando Award include four who have been nominated before.
Since 1958, the award has recognized a lifetime of community service by a person determined to best represent the spirit of volunteerism in the San Fernando Valley. Nominated by local chambers of commerce and previous winners, the finalists were named at a luncheon Friday at the Universal Sheraton Hotel.
The newcomer to the list of finalists is Philip A. “Flip” Smith, owner of Flip’s Tire Center and a founder as well as executive director of the Sepulveda/Van Nuys Blvd. Business Watch, which has been credited with fighting crime and improving that area.
Nominated for the third time is Kenneth C. Banks Jr., a North Hollywood insurance broker who has been active in such groups as the Rotary Club, the East Valley YMCA, the Police Activity League and the NoHo Arts District.
Another repeat finalist, from 1995, is Walter Mosher, the president of Precision Dynamics Corp. in Pacoima and past chairman of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn.
Nancy Schmidt of Chatsworth, also a finalist last year, is a branch manager for American Pacific State Bank in Sherman Oaks. Schmidt helped found the San Fernando Valley Charitable Foundation and has been involved with the Valley Leadership Institute, the North Hollywood Rotary Club and the San Fernando Valley Economic Alliance.
Sherman Oaks planning use lawyer Benjamin Reznik, a 1994 finalist, spearheaded the earthquake recovery task force of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. and is also a former chairman of the organization.
The Fernando Award winner will be named Nov. 1 at a dinner at Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills.
The award annually honors an individual who has compiled a record of outstanding and selfless community service in the Valley. There is no cash prize; the winner’s name is inscribed on a statue in the Van Nuys Civic Center Mall and on a 19-foot obelisk in Warner Park in Woodland Hills.
