Kudos to Sam Lagana For Farberow Award

(Editor’s note: Roberta Donohue, publisher of the Palisadian-Post since 1987, delivered the following remarks at last Thursday’s Chamber of Commerce installation dinner at the Riviera Country Club.) Hi, I’m Roberta Donohue’ Cheryel Kanan and I are both past Chamber presidents and we both proudly received the Mort Farberow Businessperson of the Year award. We are honored to have been asked to present this year’s award. The Chamber of Commerce is resolved to cherish Mort’s memory. He was a local business owner for over 25 years and also a Chamber president and avid Chamber supporter. To honor him following his death in 2001, the Chamber created a yearly award that recognizes three things that Mort held dear: community, Chamber and children. If anyone understands the value of giving back, it’s lifelong Palisadian Sam Lagana. Throughout his adult life, he has dedicated his time and energy to making the community in which he lives a better place for his kids and their kids after that. In recognition of his tireless work for numerous local organizations, Sam is this year’s recipient of the Mort Farberow Businessperson of the Year Award. Sam Lagana gives back to the community as a member of the board of managers for the Palisades-Malibu YMCA, where he offers advice and insight into how the facility on Via de la Paz can better serve Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Topanga. Sam grew up in the Palisades and now lives in the Marquez area, where he and his wife Eileen are raising their two daughters. He is an active member of both the John Wooden Award national steering committee and the American Legion’s Squadron 283 executive council. Sam can also be seen and heard announcing at the annual Fourth of July parade. Sam has volunteered his time with Chamber committee work since the mid-1990’s. Last year he co-chaired the Holiday Ho!Ho!Ho! committee, which is one of my favorite “give back” events of the year. Plus, it was Mort’s favorite as well. Mort and I both believed in the spirit of Santa and how it would transform little children into a special time of excitement and wonder. On cold nights when Santa arrived on Swarthmore, Mort would transform us cold elves into warm ones with his very special tasty hot cocoa. His wife Bobbie has kept this “Mort tradition” going, and every year we toast that special evening to our dear beloved Mort. Just like Mort, Sam Lagana loves children, and he has been active as a coach for girls’ basketball at the Recreation Center and YMCA for six years. Twice he has been elected to serve as Chief of the Indian Guides and Princess Nation, and he volunteers his time extending the message of “Positive Coaching” to AYSO and YMCA colleagues. Professionally, Sam has made sports advancement his life’s work, both in the Palisades and just up the road at Pepperdine University in Malibu, where he is the assistant vice chancellor. As head of the Waves Club, he oversees a group of alumni and donors that spearhead several projects on campus, including fundraising for an athletic village that would add a 26,000-sq.-ft. enhancement to Firestone Fieldhouse. Sam was quoted in the Palisadian-Post as saying, “I was a huge fan of Mort and Mort’s Deli. I saw him work as a mentor-leader by the way he just embraced people. He opened his place to encourage leadership. He was there to support you. He and Bobbie grew their business from a counter deli to a community landmark and fostered a sense of give-back that I took to heart. If you surround yourself with great people, great things happen.” Mort would be proud to know that his friend, Sam Lagana, is this year’s recipient of an award named in his honor. Congratulations, Sam!