NEIGHBORS

John Sexton, president and chief executive of The Sexton Cos., a

commercial equipment leasing company based in Newport Beach, was named

chairman of the new Peer Alliance Committee of the Assn. for Corporate

Growth Orange County Chapter. The chapter offers corporate executives a

group environment in which to candidly address business and personal

challenges. Sexton, a Newport Beach resident, is one of 300 certified

leasing professionals in the United States and is the former assistant to

the president of Landsdale and Carr, the Irvine-based holding company for

4-Day Tire Stores, Dorman Winthrop Clothing, Shamrock Golf Shops and

Lansdale and Carr and Baum Advertising. . . . Audrey Patterson, owner of

Recycled Rags in Corona del Mar, received the first Business Person of

the Year award from the Corona del Mar Chamber of Commerce during an

awards banquet recently. Patterson has been a member of the chamber since

1975 and has served as a member of the board of directors and has donated

proceeds from her business to the women’s charity New Directions, as well

as other local charities. . . . Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Ralph L.

Tomlinson, son of Ralph Tomlinson of Newport Beach and a member of Naval

Air Maintenance Training Group, has been helping to train sailors who

maintain and repair EP-3E aircraft. The training group serves as a link

between the chief of naval technical training and the fleet, providing

aviation weapons system training to air wing, squadron, ship and station

personnel. . . . Hoag Hospital Foundation Executive Director James

Greenfield has retired after 14 years with the hospital. Greenfield

helped to complete the $23-million campaign for the Hoag Hospital Cancer

Center and coordinated the $7.25-million campaign for the new Emergency

Care Unit, as well as many other projects. Greenfield will remain an

active member for both the Assn. of Fund-raising Professionals and the

Assn. for Healthcare Philanthropy. . . . Douglass Dukes of Costa Mesa

made the dean’s list at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.

Dukes is a sophomore who has an undeclared engineering major. The dean’s

list recognizes full-time students who maintain grade-point averages of

at least a 3.0 of 4.0 and have no grades below a C. . . . Orange Coast

College English professor Raymond Obstfeld and his wife, Loretta, wrote a

book on the life of Napoleon, which was released in January as a high

school and college text book. The book, “Napoleon Bonaparte,” is the

first book written by the couple, though Raymond Obstfeld has written and

published more than 40 books and novels over the past two decades. The

Tustin residents collaborated earlier on editing three books with their

small publishing firm, Fossil Press. Obstfeld has taught at Orange Coast

College for 25 years.

* NEIGHBORS spotlights achievements in the community. Please direct

noteworthy information to Young Chang via fax at (949) 646-4170, or send

e-mail too7 stefanie.frith@latimes.comf7 .