Pilot’s list of the prominent is incomplete

Did the Daily Pilot miss anyone? You missed Lee Mallory, a tireless

promoter of spoken word and performance poetry in Newport Beach and

Costa Mesa for over a decade. Mallory mentors younger writers, and

the Los Angeles Times called the Newport resident and professor

“somewhat of a county legend” in an article published on Aug. 25.

Furthermore, in a published letter, Daily Pilot, Jan. 14, a reader

wrote “Lee ... remains always available to talk to fledgling poets,

he invites well-known poets to give readings, and he himself works

day and night teaching and writing. It’s about time he received more

public recognition.”

Meanwhile, it’s probably not so much about Mallory as it is about

the poetry and the talented writers for whom he crusades. Long live

the word.

LEE MALLORY

Newport Beach

Yes. You missed a woman who should definitely be on your list next

year. Her name is Peggy Fort. She is the President of California

Marketing Concepts, a destination and tourism marketing agency

located in Newport Beach. Last year, she volunteered her time to do

all the marketing and publicity for the first annual Newport Beach

Relay for Life. For her efforts, she received the Terry Zahn Award

from the American Cancer Society and was recognized at a national

ceremony in Texas. This first annual Relay for Life generated more

money than any other initial Relay for Life for the American Cancer

Society.

Additionally, Peggy has been named the director of the Corona del

Mar centennial celebration, which is to take place in 2004. Planning

has been underway under her guidance for the past six months and has

generated over 200 community volunteers.

I have highlighted just two of Peggy’s bigger community leadership

positions, although she is involved in many more. Please consider her

for next year’s list, as she deserves to be a part of it. Thank you

for your time.

JORI HAYZER

Laguna Hills

Yawn.

GARY E. DRIES

Costa Mesa

I saw the DP 103 list Wednesday, and there are two names that I

felt should have definitely been considered. John V. Croul (known to

most as Jack), who stepped in and paid whatever price he had to in

1999 to buy and save the old Cannery Restaurant when it was going to

be torn down and developers were going to build condominiums there.

He saved it for the community, with no thought at all of whether he

was going to make any money off it. It was purely to save it for his

community.

He was very, very generous in helping to make sure all the funds

needed to restore it were there to make it the best possible

restaurant that would stay in the community and reflect the

community. I thought that what he did was above and beyond.

Croul also donated the funds to build a $19.6-million,

68,000-square-foot building at UC Irvine. The Earth System Science

Research Center houses laboratories, a conference center and office

space for faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and visiting scholars.

His actual contribution is rumored to be much, much larger than $19.6

million.

Croul is a very modest man. He probably wouldn’t even like the

attention. But what he did was so above and beyond what most any

other mortals have done that I thought it was worth noting.

Hans Prager, who owned and sold the Ritz, is another missed name.

He did so much for the community. Prager is now in a walker. If you

think about the amount of money he helped raise for charities over

the years, his contribution is probably in the several millions. He

opened the restaurant to all kinds of charities and saw that they got

recognition and money. He is not well, and I think some kind of

recognition would certainly be due because of what he has meant to

the community and especially at this point in his life.

RON SALISBURY

Newport Beach