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RESEDA ALUMNI OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
HALL OF FAME
The Reseda Alumni Hall of Fame is an effort to identify and recognize those students who have distinguished themselves, among others, through their achievements in a chosen career field and/or the significant impacts they have had on their city, state, or nation. By compiling their biographies, we seek to preserve their legacy. In selecting alumni to spotlight, we first looked at those who have been recognized—by organizations, academies, government entities, and peers—as having made outstanding achievements in their career fields. Others were recognized for significantly impacting their communities, or the world around them. We also identified those who became historical figures as a result of circumstance. Graduates and non-graduates of Reseda are both included.
Welcome to Reseda Hall of Fame, where we honor the remarkable academic achievements of our alumni.
History of the Reseda Hall of Fame
Celebrating Achievements
Reseda Hall of Fame is dedicated to recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of Reseda High School alumni. Through our platform, we shine a spotlight on the hard work and dedication of our alumni, fostering a sense of pride and community. Our mission is to create a space where past achievements are remembered. Not all the alumni listed below may have graduating from Reseda High School. Several names listed below came from the Los Angeles United School District Hall of Fame Project 2016. They did not list, or verify year of graduation. Please continue scrolling down the page to view all alumni 53 listed.
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Reseda will be celebrating its 70th year anniversary in September of 2025. Reseda High School, as it was named in 1955, was the first complete high school to be built in the San Fernando Valley after World War II. Reseda opened with complete academic and science buildings, a boy's & girl's gymnasium, football, track & field stadium with lights, Industrial shops, including an automotive repair facility. Reseda High School was the first school in the Los Angeles Untied School District to have a three-color system of Navy, Columbia Blue and White. It was one of only a few high schools in the San Fernando Valley to have a complete auditorium when it was built. The football stadium is named the Roy Jae Stadium, the baseball field is named Quentin Quick field (first baseball coach at Reseda) and the football field is dedicated to former head coach Joel Schaeffer, who died in early January 2013. Schaeffer coached the Regents from 1976 to 2000, during which the team won 6 league titles and 2 CIF championships. The construction cost to build Reseda High School in 1955 was 5 million dollars.
.​Reseda High School became a magnet school in 2017. Its Police Academy Magnet, established by Joel Schaeffer, and Science Magnet were named a national Magnet School of Distinction. ​In the fall of 2018, the school became a charter and is now Reseda Charter High School. In the fall of 2020, Reseda added middle grades and is now a 6 through 12 school. Enrollment is by charter lottery and automatically for former residential boundary students. The school has an International Dual Language Center (Spanish) 6-12, a School for Advanced Studies 6-12: PLTW Biomedical Science CTE pathway 9-12. Reseda has the following: The Arts, Media & Entertainment 9-12 Magnet, Film Production and Management Magnet 9-12, Police Academy Magnet 9-12, Science Magnet 9-12, PLTW Biomedical Science & PLTW Engineering Magnet. Reseda Charter High School is currently going through a $180 Million dollar Modernization Project.
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History of the Town of Reseda: Reseda High School is located on land that was originally part of the San Fernando Mission. Reseda originated in 1912 as the town of Marian. It was named after Marian Otis Chandler, the daughter of Los Angeles Times publisher Harrison Gray Otis and wife of Harry Chandler.
In 1921, the Marian territory made application for a post office to serve that district. To avoid confusion in mail distribution it was necessary that the name of the town be changed. Ninety-two residents convened and agreed to rename the town Reseda. Their application was granted and Reseda is the only post office in the United States by that name. The post office was officially opened on July 1, 1922.
The name Reseda refers to the fragrant plant Reseda Odorata (Mignonette) which was commonly found in gardens of the time and is native to many areas with a Mediterranean climate.
Our Mascot “The Regent” was depicted with a human body with a lion's head wearing a cape and a crown. The Regent logo was drawn by a father of one the students who worked for Disney at the time.
The Winter 57 Class was the first to graduate at the end of January 1957. The first class to attend all the way through to graduation was the Summer Class of 1958.
RKO studio owned a 40 acre ranch located 2 miles from Reseda High School. The ranch was located between Louise Ave on the west, Balboa Blvd on the east, Burbank Blvd on the south, and Oxnard St on the north. This is where Frank Capra built 4 acres of sets for the 1946 movie “It’s A Wonderful Life”, staring James Stewart. Yes, the whole movie was filmed at this location. The complete city of Bedford Falls was built on this ranch and was constructed in two months. It was one of the longest sets ever made for an American movie.. The town covered four acres of the RKO ranch and included 75 stores and buildings; a tree-lined center parkway with 20 fully grown oak trees; a factory district and residential areas. Sadly, the ranch was sold in 1954 to make way for a housing development. The housing development was not named Bedford Falls and definitely not Pottersville.
​Numerous factors played into the selection process for including Reseda Alumni into the Hall of Fame. Despite our very best efforts we are aware that we have not included many individuals deserving recognition. It is hoped that this publication of the Reseda Alumni Hall of Fame will increase awareness and lead to many more deserving individuals being included in the coming months and years ahead.
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The 53 Reseda alumni listed below is just the beginning. As members of Reseda classes from 1955 to present, your help is indeed needed. Please send me any names, dates of graduation and any additional information that would help support adding a new member to be inducted. If you find any mistakes, or better photos, please send the information to me through Facebook, or email me at robertkraude@gmail.com
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William Blaufuss Reseda Class of 1957
William (Bix) Arnold Blaufuss born May 9, 1939 died August 25, 2013, First Student Body President. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1957. William, who went by the name Bix, was the first Student Body President at Reseda High School during the 1956 school year. He was transferred to Reseda High School from Birmingham High School, where he was a 9th grader, in September 1955. Birmingham changed from a Junior High School to a Senior High School in September 1953. However, the highest grade level was only 9th grade. Bix was involved in the student body at Birmingham and that along with his personality helped him gain a spot in the Reseda's newly formed student cabinet. Bix was chosen as president pro-tempore of the Reseda's student cabinet in September of 1955 when Reseda High opened its door for the first time.
Bix was one eighteen students who were members of the first Reseda High School student cabinet, all selected from previous schools. They were responsible for establishing the Reseda name “Reseda Regents”, school colors Columbia Blue, Royal Blue, and white, first school in the Los Angeles School District to have three colors, and naming the school newspaper “The Regent Review” composed of journalism students. The school cabinet was also responsible for the organization of school clubs, activities, and dress standards. Bix was a speaker at Reseda's formal dedication on Sunday, November 20, 1955. He was a member of the school band and participated on the All City Championship B Swim team of 1956, first team in school history to win a Los Angeles City Championship in any sport. In January of 1956, he was selected to become one of the first members of the Knights, a group of 22 boys, Knights, and 20 girls, Ladies, a school organization. Blaufuss earned a scholarship to attend Occidental College.
Doug Ward Reseda Class of 1957
Doug Brent Ward, born August 20, 1939, Scepter Insignia Creator for School Ring. Graduate from Reseda Summer Class 1957. Doug Ward was responsible for creating the emblem that was placed on Reseda's Class Ring's as well as a patch that was placed on Reseda sports jackets. The following information was taken from the Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet dated February 21, 1956: Story written by Rita Richards in a column labeled Reseda High School at Random. Doug Ward of Reseda High School won first place for drawing a large scepter on a modern background. Doug Ward won first place for a serious insignia. Doug Ward was contacted at his home on Sunday, April 27, 2025 in the late afternoon and verified the information in the above news article. Doug sent a photo from his 1956 Reseda Yearbook showing himself and Joe Castellano displaying their art work. Doug Ward graduated from the Reseda Summer Class of 1957.
Joe Castellano's name appeared in the same news article dated February 21, 1956 with the following: A large emblem depicting strength and royalty. A new emblem for Reseda High. The regal head of the King of Beasts, wearing a cocky crown, won first place for the comical division. Joe Castellano graduated from the Reseda Summer Class of 1958.
Three sources (newspaper, yearbook, and Doug Ward) that verify the names of the two students from Reseda High who were responsible for the creation of these two historical emblems.
Phillip Olson Sr. Reseda Class of 1957
Phillip Roger Olson Sr., Retired United States Navy Rear Admiral and Naval Nuclear Propulsion Expert, attended Reseda Elementary School and graduated from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1957. From a Press Release dated July 22, 2020, Virginia Beach, VA: Phillip Roger Olson Sr. has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Having accrued more than three decades of dedicated service to his country and demonstrated excellence in operational engineering, RADM Olson retired from his career as a United States Navy officer in 1996. After securing a Navy ROTC scholarship to attend the University of California Los Angeles, his NROTC instructor suggested that he apply for the United States Naval Academy. His appointment was obtained through Congressman Joe Holt. Securing acceptance, RADM Olson graduated in 1962 with a Bachelor of Naval Science and entered the United States Navy as a commissioned Ensign. In 1968, RADM Olson completed a Master of Science in physics through the Naval Postgraduate School. He became an instructor for the Ship Material Readiness Group at Idaho Falls in 1978, serving until 1981, whereupon he was appointed as the commanding officer of the USS Pharris. He would complete one tour on the USS Pharris before his appointment as the commanding officer of the USS Mississippi in 1983.
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He was stationed in Newport, Rhode Island, in late 1986, where he resumed service as the Senior Instructor for the Ship Material Readiness Group. RADM Olson had advanced through the grades to the rank of a Rear Admiral by 1987, and was named as a Deputy Director of Operations on the Joint Staff in Washington, DC rising to become the Deputy Director of Strategy and Policy in 1988. From 1989 until 1990, he was the Commander of Logistics Group Two in Norfolk, Virginia, and then Commander of Cruiser-Destroyer Group One (CDG-1) in San Diego, California, from 1990 until 1992. During this time CDG-1 was converted to the Ranger Carrier Battle Group. He was then appointed as the President of the Board of Inspection and Survey Washington, DC in 1992. The Board was then moved to Norfolk, VA where he would remain until his retirement in 1996. RADM Olson is certified in Navy Surface Nuclear Operations, and notably had a supervisory role in the USS Enterprise's first two nuclear refueling operations, among other responsibilities.
Following his retirement, RADM Olson transitioned into curriculum development and instruction for the Navy Maintenance University, where he would remain through 2011. Additionally, he served as a Board Director of BMT Designers and Planners from 2008 until 2018. In 2009 he started serving as a volunteer on the Board of the Chartway Federal Credit Union Support Organization (CUSO) and since 2013, he has served as the Chairman of the CUSO Board. He was a founding member of the Military Economic Development Advisory Committee for the city of Virginia Beach, VA in 2006. The Committee was formed to ensure seamless relationships between City Management and the Military Facilities in the City. He has been Chairman of the Committee since 2018. Currently, RADM Olson is the Executive Director of the Phoenix Group of Virginia, a veteran-owned engineering services firm.
Well regarded for his many contributions to military service, RADM Olson has been extensively decorated throughout his naval career. To wit, he was bestowed with a Distinguished Service Medal. He is a member of the Navy League and the Surface Navy Association.
Robert Hilburn Reseda Class of 1957
Robert Hilburn, born September 25, 1939, Music Critic. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1957. He was the Los Angeles Times music critic from 1970 to 2005. His columns were published internationally and throughout the United States.
Bob was born in rural Louisiana, where he grew up on the blues and country music styles that eventually gave birth to rock ‘n’ roll. His family moved to Southern California in the mid-1950s. After graduating from California State University, Northridge in 1961, Bob worked briefly at the Valley Times TODAY, a daily newspaper in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. Then he spent a few years as a public information officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District. In 1966 Bob realized he missed writing and that pop music was becoming such an exciting art form, thanks chiefly to Bob Dylan and the Beatles, that he wanted to get back into journalism. After freelancing for the Los Angeles Times for four years, Hilburn was hired as a full-time critic by the paper in the summer of 1970.
While at the Times, Bob was the only music writer to accompany Johnny Cash for his landmark Folsom Prison concert. Hilburn also went along with Elton John when he became the first Western rock figure to play in the Soviet Union, with Paul Simon on the “Graceland” tour stop in Zimbabwe, with Bob Dylan for his first concerts in Israel and with Michael Jackson on much of the Jacksons' Victory tour. Bob also spent a week on the road with the Sex Pistols during their first and only U.S. tour.
Bob was the chief pop music critic and pop music editor of the Los Angeles Times from 1970 through 2005, and is now writing books. A memoir, "Corn Flakes with John Lennon and Other Tales from a Rock 'n' Roll Life," was published in 2009. "Johnny Cash: The Life", is the definitive look at one of the most complex and influential artists ever in popular culture, followed in 2013. “Paul Simon: The Life” chronicled the life and creative process of one of America’s greatest songwriters, from “The Sound of Silence” through “Graceland” and beyond. It was published in 2018.
During his years at the Times, he was an early defender of rap when it was under attack by law enforcement agencies and members of Congress. Hilburn was a member of the nominating committee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for more than 20 years.
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Robert was selected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project in August of 2016.
George Inskeep Reseda Class of 1957
George Wesley Inskeep IV, born Oct 19, 1940 died July 7, 2019, Navy Rank Lieutenant, Pilot, and Investment Advisor. Graduate of Reseda High School Summer Class of 1957. After high school George attended Pierce Junior College for one year. He was appointed by Congressman Joe Holt to enter the United States Naval Academy during the Summer of 1958. George set his goal when he was 12 years of age to enter the United States Naval Academy. He spent 15 years as a Boy Scott and became an Eagle Scout.
George enjoyed a lifetime passion for aviation. After graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1962 with a degree in Engineering, George attended flight school in Pensacola, FL, earning his Naval Aviator "Wings of Gold." Inskeep served honorably as a carrier attack pilot for three combat tours in Vietnam.
After his military career George flew for TWA out of San Francisco, where he met his wife Gill, who was a flight attendant for TWA. George and Gill married in Honolulu, HI in 1971 and during a furlough, George started Horizon Air, an inter-island air freight company based out of Honolulu. After growing Horizon to become one of the ten largest air freight outfits in America, he sold the company and moved his family to Sonoma in 1977. He then embarked upon his 40 plus year career in commercial real estate with Marcus & Millichap. Within a few years, Marcus & Millichap had grown into a large corporation.
George Inskeep was named Senior Investment Advisor, a "Top Ten" performer, and a multiple National Achievement Award winner. At the time of his passing, George was a Senior Vice President and the second longest tenured agent in the company. He never lost his passion for aviation, and remained a licensed pilot his entire adult life. Owning many airplanes, George was awarded the prestigious Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award by the FAA.
Joe Castellano Reseda Class of 1958
Joe Castellano. Creator of the Reseda High School Mascot Logo, the Regal Head of the King of Beasts, Wearing a Cocky Crown. Graduate from the Reseda High School Summer Class of 1958. Joe Castellano, located on the right side of photo, was responsible for creating the emblem that became Reseda High School's first Mascot logo, used in many publications, and was painted on the outside of the gymnasium and other locations. The following information was taken from the Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet dated February 21, 1956: Story written by Rita Richards in a column labeled Reseda High School at Random. Joe Castellano won first place in the comical division for drawing a large emblem depicting strength and royalty. A new emblem for Reseda High. The regal head of the King of Beasts, wearing a cocky crown.
Doug Ward, located on the left side of photo, name appeared in the same news article along with Joe Castellano dated February 21, 1956 with the following: "Doug Ward of Reseda High School won first place for drawing a large scepter on a modern background. Doug Ward won first place for a serious insignia." Doug Ward was responsible for creating the scepter emblem that was placed on Reseda's Class Ring's as well as a patch that was placed on Reseda sports jackets.
Three sources (newspaper, yearbook, and Doug Ward) that verify the names of the two students from Reseda High who were responsible for the creation of these two historical emblems.
Michael Tigar Reseda Class of 1958
Michael Edward Tigar, born January 18, 1941 in Glendale, California, Lawyer, Human Rights Activist, Author and Professor. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1958. Michael was the 1958 Summer Class Student Body President. Michael spent time as Emeritus Professor of Law at Duke Law School, and Emeritus Professor of Law at Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, D.C. He was Acting Professor of Law at UCLA and Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Law at The University of Texas. He has lectured at dozens of law schools, judicial conferences and bar associations in the United States, France, Switzerland, Japan, Cuba, and South Africa, including service as Professeur Invité at the faculty of law of Université Aix-Marseille (formerly Université Paul Cezanne). He is a 1966 graduate of Berkeley Law School (University of California, Berkeley), where he was first in his class, Editor-in-Chief of the California Law Review and Order of the Coif.
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Mr. Tigar is author or co-author of fifteen books, three plays, and scores of articles and essays. He has argued seven cases in the United States Supreme Court and about one hundred federal appeals, and has litigated cases in 22 states in federal and state courts. His latest books are Sensing Injustice: A Lawyer’s Life In The Battle For Change (2021), and Mythologies of State and Monopoly Power (2018).
He has been an associate and partner at Williams & Connolly, and a partner in the law firm Tigar & Buffone. Since 1996, he has been associated in law practice with Jane B. Tigar. His clients have included Isabel Letellier and her sons, the family of Ronni Moffitt, many other victims of the Pinochet repression, Angela Davis, H. Rap Brown, John Connally, Ronald Dellums, Mobil Corporation, Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Washington Post, Fantasy Films, Terry Nichols, Allen Ginsberg, Leonard Peltier, the Charleston Five, the Service Employees International Union, Fernando Chavez, Karl Dietrich Wolff, Francisco Martinez, Rosalio Munoz, Terry Lynn Nichols, the lawyers who won the Texas tobacco case, Lynne Stewart, and the Ilois people of the Chagos Archipelago. He has been Chair of the 60,000-member Section of Litigation of the American Bar Association, and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Texas Resource Center for Capital Litigation. Since 2017, he has been served as a hearing officer for the District of Columbia Bar Board on Professional Responsibility, adjudicating matters of professional discipline.
In his teaching, he has worked with law students in clinical programs where students are counsel in significant human rights litigation. He has made several trips to South Africa, working with organizations of African lawyers engaged in the struggle to end apartheid and, after the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, to lecture on human rights issues and to advise the African National Congress on issues in drafting a new constitution. He has been involved in bringing to justice members and agents of the Chilean junta, including former President Pinochet. Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., wrote of Mr. Tigar’s career that his “tireless striving for justice stretches his arms towards perfection.”
Mr. Tigar is listed in Professor John Vile’s book, Great American Lawyers: An Encyclopedia (2001), as one of 100 “great” lawyers in United States history. In 1999, the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice held a ballot for “Lawyer of the Century.” Mr. Tigar was third in the balloting, behind Clarence Darrow and Thurgood Marshall.
In 2018, the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas acquired Mr. Tigar’s papers and memorabilia, and established an online guide. The opening ceremony, including remarks by Jeremy Corbyn, Fernando Chavez, Bernardine Dohrn, Patrick Higginbotham, and Jordan Steiker, and a performance from one of Mr. Tigar’s plays.
James Peck Reseda Class of 1959
Tech Sergeant James Curtis Peck, Musician, Teacher and Bear Valley Church Music Ministry. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1959. Jim was a member of the 1959 Reseda dance band playing the saxophone. Reseda's dance band, the Regenaires”. Made several television appearances on “Spotlight on Youth”. These Regenaires continued to draw applause at campus dances, outside dances, and at assemblies and concerts. Jim Peck, the student director, and Mr. Gagliardi, the faculty director, the “Regenaires” worked for fun, vocational training, experience and money. Auditions for membership were held and only the very select musicians were chosen.
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Peck became a traveling musician with another dance band playing one-nights all over the country. He entered college in 1960 as a music major and was offered a saxophone position with the 562nd U.S. Air Force Band, Van Nuys, California and served 9 years. He also played with many other bands including Wingy Manone, Bob Crosby and the Barnum & Bailey Circus Band. Peck appeared on the Lawrence Welk Plymouth Show and did sideline work on “My Little Margie” and the Donna Reed shows and on the movie Manchurian Candidate. He formed the Musicmakers Band in 1987 under the name Curtis James.
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After graduating from San Fernando Valley State College in 1965, Peck began a 36-year teaching career in music. He taught public school full-time in Las Virgenes USD until moving to Madera USD in 1979 due to Proposition 13. He finished Masters Degree in 1975 and began teaching other part-time music positions at Madera and Clovis college centers through Reedley College and Luther College in California and for six years directed the Merced College Concert Band.
After retiring twice, Peck moved to Bear Valley Springs in 2001. He substituted at Tehachapi USD and taught a class through Antelope Valley College. He took over the music ministry at Bear Valley Church for 10 years and has continued playing with the Curtis James Band and joined the Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra and the Tehachapi Pops Orchestra on clarinet. Peck recently became one of the directors of the T-Pops Orchestra conducting several programs.
Peter MacDoran Reseda Class of 1959
Peter Frank MacDoran, NASA Physicists, Engineer and Author. Graduate from Reseda High School Winter Class of 1959. His name appeared as Pete in the 1959 Reseda yearbook. MacDoran holds degrees in physics and electrical engineering. He served lieutenant (junior grade) in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commissioned Officer Corps with assignments in space geodesy and shipboard oceanography.
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For thirteen years, he was at the NASA/Caltech, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he was awarded both NASA medals - Exceptional Scientific Achievement and then Exceptional Engineering Achievement - and became the first person in NASA history to have been the recipient of both medals.
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Peter joined the G. H. Born Center for Astrodynamics Research / Aerospace Engineering Sciences faculty at the university of Colorado, Boulder where he developed the first undergraduate teaching laboratory for GPS technology. With CU graduate students and wife, Judy, CyberLocator, Inc., was formed to commercialize unconventional methods for positioning, navigation and location-based authentication cyber security, which was awarded a US Patent and subsequently sold to a major US corporation.
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MacDoran is now in semi-retirement, lives in the Seattle area, and is a volunteer STEM instructor at Everett Community College. He also authored the book "The Old Men Will Die First: A True Story of Cold War Espionage".
Carl B. Fischer Reseda Class of 1959
Carl B. Fischer, Aerospace Engineer. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1959. On November 13, 2001, Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Electronic Systems sector has named Carl B. Fischer vice president and general manager of its newly created Space Systems Division.
Space Systems, which is based in Baltimore, Md., was created following the acquisition of the Electronics and Information Systems Group of Aerojet-General Corporation. The new division combines the former Aerojet businesses in Azusa, California, and Boulder and Colorado Springs, Colorado, with the sector's military, commercial and civil space businesses in Baltimore and Bethpage, N.Y.
Mr. Fischer began his business career in 1964 with North American Aviation's Rocketdyne Division as an associate engineer working on liquid rocket engines for the U.S. space program. He joined Aerojet in 1966 and has held a number of senior management and leadership positions with the company.
In 1993, Mr. Fischer was named president of the Aerojet Electronic Systems Division, and in 1996, he was appointed senior vice president, Electronic and Weapon Systems, with responsibility for space surveillance, ground systems, Earth sensing, environmental and meteorological sensing, special programs, smart munitions, smart propulsion, and tactical missile subsystem development and production. Since 1999, Mr. Fischer has served as president of Aerojet. Mr. Fischer holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and master's degrees in business administration and management science. In 1975, he was selected by the Financial Executive Institute as the University of Southern California's top finance graduate.
Also, he is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the national business honor society and Omega Rho, the national operations research honor society. Mr. Fischer is a member of the Army Science Board and the National Defense Industrial Association board of directors.
Headquartered in Baltimore, Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems sector is a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of defense electronics and systems including space systems, airborne radar systems, navigation systems, electronic warfare systems, precision weapons, air traffic control systems, air defense systems, communications systems, marine systems, oceanic and naval systems, logistics systems, and automation and information systems.
Susan Carnell Reseda Class of 1960
Susan Jean Carnell - aka Susan Wakeford Angard, Actress, Producer and Author. Susan attended Reseda High School in 1960, but she graduated high school on the lot of Twentieth Century Fox Studio. During this time, she had leading roles in major television shows at Fox Studios, Warner Bros, Paramount, Universal and MGM. Her fascination for Ancient art then led her to study for an art history MFA at UCLA.
After leaving UCLA, Susan joined a family-owned TV Commercial Production Company, shooting consumer product commercials from McDonald's to Budweiser, Purina and Boeing. She traveled much of the world filming on location, including in the Middle East during the last months of the Shah of Iran's regime. Susan became an eye-witness to the Islamic Revolution.
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In September of 1978 she was in Iran producing a TV commercial package for Boeing Aircraft and was an eyewitness to the first harrowing days of Khomeini’s Revolutionary Guard’s bloody takeover. Vivid memories haunted Susan when she returned to the states until she said, enough! I’m writing this story. Her previous writing was for an episodic CBS network TV series, Hawaii Five O. Wanting to switch from screenwriting to fiction she attended the UCLA writers program and the advanced writer’s program at UC Irvine and currently part of an extended writers critique group.
Her first book authored from The Persian Glories Saga Trilogy, On Wings of a Lion.
Martin Grossman Reseda Class of 1960
Martin Robert Grossman, Author, War Correspondent and Engineer. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1960. Martin goes by the name Marty. He also used the name Mike for his senior year photo. During high school, Marty participated on two Reseda Varsity Championship Track teams during his junior and senior year running the quarter mile. After high school, Martin Grossman ran track at San Jose State College in 1961. He earned a degree in journalism from Los Angeles City College and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Whittier College. He is the author of three best-selling children's books, Oscar the Otter, The Pigs of Lake Hood, and in 2016, Totems of Seldovia. More recently he is the author of two adult fiction books, Club Saigon and War Crimes. His books have received stirring reviews in the local media in his hometown of Anchorage, and throughout Alaska. He has been a featured writer at the Alaska Writers Conference and has been an author in residence at many lodges and libraries, statewide.
Martin was also featured in a 2018 edition of "The Rock". He has written articles and served as a war correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. During the Vietnam War he served six years with the Elite 5th Special Forces (Green Berets) Group of the United States Army from 1965 to 1971, including three tours in Vietnam.
Grossman is also a retired construction engineer with the State of Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities and an author in residence at several Alaska libraries.
Diana Lee Reseda Class of 1961
Diana Lee, Singer, born 1944. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1961. At Reseda, Diana sang in the musical "Oklahoma" and was in the dance band under instructor Leonard Gagliardi,. After high school, Diana, worked on The Dean Martin Show. Not only was she a member of the series’ choir, a select group of four male and four female vocalists who, under the direction of Jack Halloran, supplied all of the rich background vocals for the show’s musical numbers, but so was her then-husband, Jerry Whitman. Diana was practically raised in the recording studio, as the daughter of renowned session singer Bill Lee.
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On Dean’s show, Diana not only contributed behind the scenes, but right out front, as well, in both the larger on-camera chorus and as a charter member of the original “Dean’s Girls”, the trio in which she harmonized with fellow warblers Melissa Stafford and Julie Rinker. Diana was attractive enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with any of her cohorts, Lee always had a sensible, grounded quality about her that suggested that if you were ever lucky enough to go out on a date with her, she would call all of the shots.
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Both during and after her run on The Dean Martin Show, this silky-voiced singer’s singer kept busy doing plenty of studio recordings. In 1973, she and husband Jerry Whitman dubbed the singing parts of Liv Ullmann and Peter Finch for both the big-screen musical version of Lost Horizon and the accompanying soundtrack, and they also made several other records together, including songs from Sesame Street 2 and songs from the Electric Company TV Show for Disney.
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Allen Minton Reseda Class of 1961
Dr. Allen P. Minton, born 1943, Physical Bio-Chemist Ph. D. Graduate from Reseda High School Winter Class of 1961. Allen was born on July 5th, 1943. Dr. Allen Minton is the Section Chief and investigator for the National Institute for Digestive, Diabetes and Kidney Diseases. His specialties include Biomedical Engineering, Biophysics and Physics. Dr. Minton has authored numerous research papers. ​Professional Experience:
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Distinguished Fellow, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Study, 2017
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Fellow, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Study, 2014
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Senior Biomedical Research Service, 2009
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Senior Fellow, Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, 2006
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Visiting Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2001
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Visiting Professor, Osaka University, 1997
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Chief, Section on Physical Biochemistry, NIDDK, 1992-2016
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Visiting Professor, Science University of Tokyo, 1988
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Chaim Weizmann Junior Fellow, Weizmann Institute of Science, 1968-1970
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Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, 1968
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B.S., University of California, Los Angeles, 1964​
​​Allen was selected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project in August of 2016.
Robert Swaim Jr. Reseda Class of 1961
Robert Frank Swaim, Jr., born November 2, 1943, Evanston, Illinois, Writer, Director, and Producer. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1961. Robert participated on the Reseda High School Track team during the 1961 season. Going by the name Bob in 1960, he was a member of the 1960 Reseda Championship track team. After high school, Bob received a degree in anthropology from California State University, Northridge, then called San Fernando Valley State College, in 1965.
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Swaim then went to France to work on his doctorate in ethnology. He studied at the Collège de France with Claude Lévi-Strauss and at L'École des Langues Orientales with Georges Ballandier. However, spending most of his free time at the French Cinématheque, he quickly became interested in filmmaking, dropped out of his doctoral program and entered l'École Nationale de la Cinématographie et la Photographie, later known as École Nationale Supérieure Louis-Lumière. Swaim spent most of the following decade writing and directing documentaries and commercials. Unable to break into the closed world of feature films, he founded, along with several other young filmmakers, a film company to produce their own films. During the few years of their existence, they produced over fifty theatrical short films of young filmmakers, including three short films that Swaim wrote, directed and produced. The three films won numerous international prizes and awards and enabled Swaim to write and direct his first feature film, La Nuit de Saint Germain des Prés (1977) was a critical success but a box office failure, and it was four years before Swaim directed the next feature, La Balance.
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La Balance was not only one of the biggest box office successes in the history of French cinema, but it also changed the face of the French police film. Le Monde wrote, "Avec La Balance, Bob Swaim a réinventé le film policier" ("With La Balance, Bob Swaim has reinvented the police film").The film received eight César Award nominations, winning Best Picture, Best Actor (Philippe Léotard), and Best Actress (Nathalie Baye). La Balance became an international success and led to Swaim's first Hollywood contract. In 1986, Swaim wrote and directed Half Moon Street, adapted from Paul Theroux's award-winning novel Doctor Slaughter. The film starred Sigourney Weaver and Michael Caine and introduced French actor Vincent Lindon.
Swaim, now in Hollywood, signed a contract with MGM as a director, writer, and producer in 1987.There he developed several projects for MGM and directed Masquerade for the studio in 1988, starring Rob Lowe and Meg Tilly. Disenchanted with Hollywood and the studio system, Swaim returned to France where he set up a company to develop European projects for American producers. In 1997, Swaim returned to the movies, directing The Climb (1997–1998) starring John Hurt and David Strathairn. The film was one of Swaim's most critically acclaimed films, winning prizes in numerous festivals including the UNICEF Prize for Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival.
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Aside from writing, directing and producing, Swaim has acted in several films, including John Landis's Spies Like Us, Caroline Huppert's J'ai Deux Amours, James Ivory's A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries, and Florence Quentin's Ole. He has also been an adviser-consultant at the Performing Arts Lab for Screenwriters in Kent, England, and at the Australian Film Commission's workshop in Sydney. Additionally, he has been a guest lecturer at New York University and Columbia University. He has also taught acting at Andreas Voutsinas' Theatre des 50 L'Atelier and the VO/VF Acting School.
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In the early 2000s, Swaim was writing his next feature film, Pigalle-Barbès (provisional title), a thriller that takes place in Paris during the Algerian War. He was also preparing a documentary for France Télévisions on the First Congress of Black Writers and Artists that took place in Paris in 1956 as part of the Année des Cultures Francophones-2006. In 2007, he returned to the stage, to direct a Blues Odyssey at the Théâtre du Châtelet.
Michael Dempsey Reseda Class of 1961
Michael D. Dempsey, Reseda High School Class President, Football Player and Attorney. Graduate from Reseda High School Winter Class of 1961. Michael was the Reseda High School Senior Class President in 1961. Dempsey a 6' 2" 175 pounds quarterback, helped his Reseda team win the West Valley League Football Championship in 1960. He was named by the Helms Foundation as a member to the West Valley League first team. Trailing by 19 points to Canoga Park in the fourth quarter, Michael threw 3 TD's to help Reseda win 21 to 19. For the season, he threw for 536 yards completing 36 out of 83 attempts.
After high school he enrolled at San Fernando Valley State College and played QB during the first year of the schools football program in 1961-62 under the direction of first-year coach Sam Winningham. During the 1962 season, Valley State compiled an overall record of 3-6. 1962 was the first year the school played a varsity football schedule. The team played home games at Monroe High School. Mr. Dempsey graduated from San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University Northridge) Magna Cum Laude in 1965 and from UCLA School of Law in 1968 where he served on the UCLA Law Review and earned the honor of membership in the Order of the Coif.
Michael D. Dempsey was admitted to the California Bar in 1969. Mr. Dempsey’s 50 years of practice have been a mix of commercial litigation and transactional matters. He has represented public and private companies, partnerships, and individuals in a wide range of litigation matters including contract, securities, fraud, accounting, legal malpractice, legal fee disputes, employment, intellectual property, real estate finance and transactions, and insurance coverage disputes. Mr. Dempsey has obtained favorable final verdicts or arbitration awards for clients in more than 100 disputed matters. Mr. Dempsey has also represented clients in a wide range of transactional matters, including mergers, acquisitions, sales and leases, contracts and warranties, and has served as outside general counsel for several of his corporate clients and has sat on several boards of directors. Mr. Dempsey has lectured on admiralty, civil procedure, alternative dispute resolution and an attorney’s duties to his or her clients. He has testified as an expert witness in numerous legal malpractice lawsuits and proceedings over legal fees. Mr. Dempsey has served as a director of publicly held SEC reporting companies (including non-executive chairman of the board of one), as a director of private companies, and as trustee of private trusts.
Mr. Dempsey is a member of the California State Bar, admitted to practice before all U.S. District Courts in the State of California, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the United States Supreme Court and all California state courts. Mr. Dempsey has admitted to practice pro hac vice before several U.S. District Courts in states other than California, including New York, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, Texas, and Montana and has appeared before the United States Multi-District Panel.
Before founding Dempsey Law P.C., Mr. Dempsey was a senior principal in Dempsey & Johnson, P.C., served as partner at Lillick, McHose & Charles (now merged into Pillsbury, Winthrop Shaw Pittman); Rogers & Wells (now merged into Clifford Chance); Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Heine, Underberg, Manley & Casey; Myerson & Kunh; and Shea & Gould; and served as counsel to Hardee, Barovick, Konecky & Braun.
Samuel Cernuto Reseda Class of 1961
Samuel Paul Cernuto was born on July 30, 1943 in Boise, Idaho, United States, Musician and Disc Jockey. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1961. Samuel was a member of the Reseda High School music program directed by Leonard Gagliardi.
Samuel studied at Los Angeles Valley Junior College in 1963 before starting his career in music.
Cernuto was the lead jazz trombonist with house orchestra Las Vegas (Nevada) Hilton, 1971-1982, 84—. He was also the lead jazz trombonist for Elvis Presley tours, Las Vegas, 1975-1977. In addition, Samuel was the lead jazz trombonist for the television shows Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin, 1975-1981.
Samuel Cernuto was the lead jazz trombonist for the Easter Seals Telethon, Los Angeles, 1977-1987, March of Dimes Telethon, Los Angeles, 1980-1986, Diana Ross tours, New York City, 1982-1983. Jazz trombonist Muscular Dystrophy Telethon, Las Vegas, 1985-1986 and the lead jazz trombonist for Frank Sinatra Bally Hotel, since 1987.
Cernuto was the Jazz disc jockey for Station KNPR, Las Vegas, 1984-1986, listed as a notable musician by Marquis Who's Who and presently is designing and building vacation homes.
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Samuel was selected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project in August of 2016.
Joey D. Vieira Reseda Class of 1962
Joseph Douglas Vieira, known as Joey D. Vieira, born April 8, 1944, American Film/Television Actor and Recording Artist. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1962. His name was misspelled Viera in the senior picture. Joey began as a child actor using the professional name Donald Keeler playing chubby, beanie-wearing farm boy, Sylvester "Porky" Brockway in the first several seasons (1954–57) of TV's Lassie (retitled Jeff's Collie in syndicated reruns and on DVD). Vieira borrowed the professional surname from his aunt, Ruby Keeler, star of numerous Warner Bros musicals in the 1930s.
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Other early TV appearances include The Pride of the Family, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Shirley Temple's Storybook, and My Three Sons. Film appearances include The Private War of Major Benson (1955) with Charlton Heston and The Patriot 2000) with Mel Gibson in which he played as Peter Howard. Vieira has also written, produced and directed.
He also had a music career in the 1970s and 1980s. One of his songs was sampled by the Tyler The Creator song "911/Mr. Lonely" on his album Flower Boy.
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In addition to being the nephew of Ruby Keeler, he was the half-brother of actor Ken Weatherwax, best known for portraying Pugsley Addams on the 1960s television sitcom The Addams Family.
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Joey appeared in the following:
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The Private War of Major Benson(1955) - Cadet Cpl. Scawalski
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Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice(1969) - Dishwasher (uncredited)
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Evel Knievel (1971) - Lunch Truck Driver
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Wooju Heukgisa (1979) - (English version, voice)
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Monaco Forever(1984) - Narrator
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Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) - Pizza Man
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Red Heat (1988) - Man at Phone Booth
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Love, Cheat & Steal (1993) - Bullet Head #1
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Me and the Gods (1997) - Dionysus
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Free Enterprise (1998) - Hal Pittman
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Grizzly Adams and the Legend of Dark Mountain (1999) - Joey Butterworth
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The Patriot (2000) - Peter Howard
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Nebraska (2001) - Fat Sam
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Fuel (2008) - Floyd Miller
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Dwegons And Leprechauns (2014) - Davargan / Yabo Potato / Sweetfang / Clyde (voice)
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John Ferejohn Reseda Class of 1962
John Arthur Ferejohn, born June 6, 1944, American Legal Scholar and Political Scientist. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1962. John Ferejohn is the Samuel Tilden Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, where he has been a full-time faculty member since 2009.
Ferejohn previously served as a professor of social science at the California Institute of Technology and as the Carolyn S. G. Munro Professor of Political Science at Stanford University. While teaching political science at Stanford, he was also a senior fellow at their Hoover Institution. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1981.
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For the past five decades, John Ferejohn has investigated the connections between American political and legal institutions while always innovating and taking advantage of methodological developments in social science. His recent interests range from democratic theory, jurisprudence and separation of power, and the system of policymaking in Congress.
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John was selected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project in August of 2016.​​
Dana Pena Sr. Reseda Class of 1963
Daniel Steven Peña Sr., born August 10, 1945, American Businessman. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1963. Daniel is Mexican American and was raised in East Los Angeles, California. After high school, he graduated from San Fernando Valley State College School of Business Administration and Economics with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.
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Peña's mother was from Mexico and is from both Austrian and Spanish descent. His father, who was from New Mexico, was one of the first Mexican American detectives in the Los Angeles Police Department and later worked in a secret CIA unit where he oversaw an investigation into the death of Robert F. Kennedy.
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Peña began his career as a financial analyst on Wall Street. He went on to become president of Great Western Resources, Inc., a Houston-based oil company listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1984. In a move backed by shareholders, Peña was ousted as president of the company in 1992 and subsequently awarded $3.3 million by an American jury, after suing the company over his dismissal.
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In 1984, Peña bought Guthrie Castle in Angus, Scotland, where he lives and from which he has operated several businesses.
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In 2017, the castle and estate manager employed by Peña at Guthrie Castle was found to have committed fraud by double or triple booking wedding facilities and paying the higher charges into their own account. Peña said he forgave the employee and covered the £130,000 stolen from clients.
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Peña ran as an independent candidate in the 2024 UK general election in the Angus and Perthshire Glens constituency, running under the slogan, "Make Angus Great Again". He polled just 733 votes (1.5 percent) of the votes cast, placing sixth out of six candidates. The seat was won by the Scottish National Party candidate.
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Peña refers to himself as the "trillion-dollar man." He works as a motivational speaker and is known for his brash personality.
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Dana was selected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project in August of 2016.
Ray Calhoun Jr. Reseda Class of 1965
Ray Calhoun, born 1947, CPA, Silver Star and Purple Heart Recipient. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1965. His name in the 1965 Reseda yearbook was Lester. Played football as the center for the Reseda High School West Valley League Champs of 1965. Ray served in the military service in the Marines in 1966. Calhoun studied at California State University, Northridge.
In 1966, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and arrived in Vietnam as a rifleman in August. In April 1967 he earned a Silver Star, the nation’s third highest honor for valor under combat in the first of the infamous hill fights in Khe Sanh, specifically Hill 881 South. He was also wounded twice on that day and received the Purple Heart. After being medevac’d he was given his last rites but survived and recuperated at NSA China Beach before returning to combat operations with his platoon. Upon return to states, he was a Marksmanship Instructor at Camp Pendleton qualifying nearly 1,000 recruits for combat. Ray has a book written about him and his tour “Darker Than Dark” by Major General John Admire.
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Ray graduated from California State University at Northridge, CSUN, in 1972 with a degree in Business Administration and began his career as a CPA with Price Waterhouse & Co. His clients included Disney Studios, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (Oscars), Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Emmys), Rand Corporation, Shareholder Capital Corporation and other publicly traded entities.
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​Co-Founder/Producer at Scripps Ranch Old Pros
Former Founder and CEO at BeamOne LLC
Former President/CEO at Quake Global
Former Audit at PricewaterhouseCoopers
Former Corporal at USMC​
Steve McCartney Reseda Class of 1966
​Stephen Francis McCartney, United States Navy Physician, Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1966. Like many students attending Reseda High School at the time, Steve did not participate in sports, or organizations. He was one of the 'normal guys' at Reseda, trying to validate the need to grow up and develop a sense of worth. Steve loved the beach, during his senior year. he took time off school to surf the waves at Malibu during the school week, once to many times. The attendance office and Mr. Tibbets noticed Steve's forged absence cards. Vice Principal Henry Leeds required Steve to sign a contract promising not to cut school during the remaining three weeks of the semester. Steve was caught again surfing at Malibu and was transferred to Cleveland High School. Steve did not miss class again and was allowed to graduate with his twin brother Stan and the rest of his classmates from Reseda High School. After high school, Steve continued to surf while working. Finally, he settled down and attended Pierce Junior College 1969-70. After Pierce he attended Loyola University 1973, Majoring in Biology. He transferred to the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine 1978. Twin brother Stan also went to the University of Oklahoma in 1978-79 to become a (PA) Physician Assistant, licensed healthcare professional. During the 70's, brother Stan served in the Marines and father served in the Air Force during WW2. From 1978-84, Steve finished his surgical training at Harbor UCLA Medical Center. While studying at UCLA, Steve heard stories about the Navy from Navy Doctors so rather than go directly into private practice, Steve decided to serve his country. He enlisted in the Navy Reserves from 1982-84, in the Navy Medical Corps, receiving a commission as Lieutenant. Dr. Steve McCartney enjoyed what he was doing, he entered active duty as a Navy general surgeon, 1984-1990. He received a Postgrad Fellowship (US Navy) Vascular Surgery 1987-88 at McGill University, Montreal Quebec, Canada. Dr. McCartney was in the Navy Reserves, Full-Time Navy, and spent 11 years in private practice from 1982 to 2012.
Immediately following September 11, 2001, Dr. McCartney was deployed as a surgeon aboard the USS Enterprise [CVN 65] battle group. He went right to the Persian Gulf several days after 9/11. He was on the Enterprise when his battle group launched the first Tomcats and Hornets into Afghanistan. On January 2003, he was deployed with the first Marine Expeditionary Force to Kuwait before the war started. He was also deployed twice to Afghanistan. He retired from the Navy, Navy Captain 06, in 2012. Dr. McCartney received the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious achievement in connection with combat operations as Group Surgeon, Professional Services Alpha Surgical Company, Health Services Battalion, 1st Force Service Support Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, from January to June 2003, in support of Operations ENDURING and IRAQI FREEDOM. Captain McCartney established Alpha Surgical Company as the I Marine Expeditionary Force level II referral center performing 1,500 patient visits, 130 admissions, 23 surgeries, and coordinating 85 medical evacuations. During wartime mass casualty operations, the surgical company expertly cared for 97 combat injured patients.
Dr. McCartney's life as a Navy Physician could be a continuation of the television series M*A*S*H (1972-1983), but in the Middle East. If want to know more, search the Internet for The GWOT Oral History Project. Once your on this website click + Veterans 2 then click Stephen McCartney. The interview was done by Richard Hayden, June 6, 2015. Next, search the Internet for Stephen's 2004 article in Navy Medicine titled Operation Iraqi Freedom: A Surgeon's Perspective Captain Stephen F. McCartney, MC, USNR Navy Medicine, March-April 2004. A very in-depth reading.
In Dr. McCartney's interview on June 6, 2015, he was asked to share words of advice to young doctors, Corpsmen and Marines who will be fighting the wars of the future. First, never forget that you were in the finest military, or the finest Navy there ever was and whatever your age is now, you’re going to be thinking about this the rest of your life. This is going to be a major transforming event for you. Second, never miss a chance to take on responsibility and leadership, because it’s going to pay off years and years in advance. Third, stay away from slags and mouth-breathers that are in there just doing the bare minimum. You don’t want to catch what they’ve got. Never miss a chance to deploy and stay away from people who have bad attitudes. And just remember when it’s all said and done, whether you stay in four years, or whether you stay in forty, it’s been said that when you look back on your life at forty, fifty, seventy years old wondering what you’ve done in your life, you can always say, “I served in the United States Navy.”
A military family, Dr. McCartney's son also became a Navy Doctor. Steve continued the love of surfing until he was in his 50's.
Woody McEvers Reseda Class of 1967
Woody McEvers, Restaurant Owner and Politician. Graduate from Reseda High School Summer Class of 1967. Woody was the school mascot, King Regent. He was also a member of the swim team. McEvers was a former grounds maintenance worker at Zuma Beach near Malibu California. Woody loved the beach. He went to Pierce Junior College and later studied video production at North Idaho College.
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McEvers moved to Coeur d’Alene from Southern California in 1978. Today he is the co-owner-operator, with his brother Daren since 1983, at Rustlers Roost Restaurant & Catering, located in Hayden.
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Board Chairman at Kootenai County EMS and Board Member at Lake City Center. Woody has served on the city council of Coeur d’Alene since 2002. Before that he served on the planning commission for five years. During the July 2024 council meeting, Mayor Hannond, for health reasons, announced that he would be stepping down. On October of 2024, Woody was appointed Mayor unanimously by the council. He will serve out the remainder of Hammond’s four-year term through the end of next year.
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McEvers was instrumental in the creation of Coeur d’Alene’s government cable TV station, CDA-TV in 2004. The city’s skate park was renamed for him in 2021 in honor of his efforts to get it built a few years earlier. A stone monument at the park quotes him, “Dude, make it cool.”
David Jerden Reseda Class of 1967
David Jerden, born July 25, 1949, died February 5, 2025, American Record Producer, Audio Engineer and Mixer. Graduate from the Reseda High School Summer Class of 1967. He is best-known for producing, engineering and mixing albums recorded by a variety of bands from the mid-to-late 1980s and 1990s, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, Alice in Chains, Social Distortion, the Offspring, Fishbone, Anthrax, Meat Puppets, Social Distortion, Biohazard, Sacred Reich, and Spinal Tap. He had also engineered and mixed albums by the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads and Frank Zappa. However, Jerden had stated that he disliked the term "producer", preferring to refer to himself primarily as an engineer.
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Jerden developed his engineering and mixing skills at Eldorado Recording Studios in Hollywood, California, beginning in the late 1970s. He engineered and mixed acclaimed and successful records by artists such as Talking Heads, David Byrne, Frank Zappa, Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones and many others.
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His career as a producer emerged in the late 1980s, beginning with albums by Jane's Addiction and Alice in Chains. Music Radar stated that these albums went against the prevailing sonic qualities of the day—dominated as it was by "hair metal bands"—and that Jerden had an important hand in shaping such genre-defining sounds.
By the mid-1990s, Jerden felt overwhelmed by the trappings of his success and decided to "lie low": working on occasional projects, but primarily experimenting with recording equipment involved in the transition from digital to analogue domains.
Jerden was the co-owner of Tranzformer Studio in Burbank, California.
Lorry Frankel Reseda Class of 1968
Lorry Frankel, Football Player, Doctor and Professor. Graduate from Reseda High School Winter Class of 1968. At 6 foot 1 inch 219 pound junior, Lorry played football as the center on the 1966 undefeated Reseda Varsity West Valley League Championship team. Frankel also played on the 1967 Reseda Varsity Football team. He was selected to the Helms All West Valley League Football team first squad in 1966 and 1967. Lorry was the Senior "B" President.
After high school, he attended UCLA and graduated in 1972. Lorry then earned his medical degree from the University of Antwerp in 1978. He also earned an MBA with a specialty in Health from the University of California, Irvine in 2000.
Lorry Frankel was a Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University at the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital from 1983 to 2010. During that time, he was Director of Critical Care Services (1991-2007), and Director of Pediatric Pallative Care (2007-2010). In 2010 he became the Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at California Pacific Medical Care, a Sutter Health Care Affiliate in April 2010.
Scott Reseda Class of 1970
Scott King, Track & Field Coach, Graduate from Reseda High School 1970. Scott was a member of the Reseda Varsity Cross Country & Track Team. He majored in mathematics at Reseda. After high school, Scott attended California State University, Humboldt. After college, Scott decided to go into coaching track at Poly High School where he led the Parrots to four consecutive East Valley League Championships. In 10 years, he compiled a record of 64-8. In 1988, King was hired as the head track coach at Birmingham High School. During his 26 years of coaching, he recorded 1274 wins with only 81 losses in cross country, track and field. King won 110 varsity league titles and 186 CIF championships (5 in girls cross country, 2 in boys cross country, 6 in girls track, and 3 in boys track). Scott coached 12 All-Americans, 53 All-State athletes and 92 individual CIF champions.
On Monday, December 16, 2019, at Birmingham Community Charter High School, the Birmingham track was named in his honor. Scott is a third generation teacher. His dad Warren King, a member of the Reseda Hall of Fame, taught photography at Reseda High School.
Pam Elyea Reseda Class of 1971
Pamela Mahl Elyea, born 1962, Business, Hollywood Props. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1971 and attended the Pasadena Art Center as a photography major. Pam is the co-founder of History for Hire with her husband Jim. History for Hire, located in North Hollywood, is a major prop house providing an immense inventory of props to Hollywood film and production studios. With a 5000 volume library, Pam Elyea thoroughly researches every item sent to a studio to ensure authenticity. History for Hire has over 1 million props in its inventory.
Pam's dream of operating a prop business began after watching the original Star Wars. Pam met her film-loving husband at the Arts Center College of Design in Pasadena and they soon started shipping props out of their living room. The first film they worked on was the Oliver Stone war epic, Platoon in 1986.
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History For Hire usually works on thousands of productions a year. You name it, they’ve probably worked on it. Titanic, Forrest Gump, Babylon, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? are all titles that get thrown around as Pam navigates the labyrinthine rows of props from all decades and origins.
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Pam Elyea was selected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project in August of 2016.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Gilbert Smith Reseda Class of 1972
Gilbert Smith, born September 4, 1954, Actor and Photographer. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1972 and the Rochester School of Technology. Gil's mother was a singer and cast member on various music/variety shows in the 1950’s. While his mother worked on set, producers found ways to employ Gil in commercials, episodic television and motions pictures.
As a young child actor, Gil was cast in 2 television series, the original Dennis the Menace in 1958 as Dennis's friend Joey and in the summer of 1960 in the series Peter Loves Mary. Gil also appeared on several shows on Leave it to Beaver, starting Jerry Mather. After a six-year stint as a child actor, he studied photography at Reseda High School under H. Warren King, a nationally renowned teacher, and subsequently received a merit scholarship from Eastman Kodak and the Professional Photographers of America to study photography at the highly regarded Rochester Institute of Technology.
After college, Gil was an assistant in the studios of several noted advertising professionals, including James B. Wood, Reid Miles, and David Langley. He launched his own studio operation in 1980 after transforming a former Yellow Cab garage near downtown Los Angeles into a fully-equipped studio for automotive photography. He was involved in such notable projects as national multimedia presentations for Chrysler, the launches of New Coke and Diet Coke for Coca-Cola, and a portrait of a then little-known economist, Alan Greenspan, for Apple Computer. Other clients have ranged from John Deere tractors to Giro helmets.
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Gil has worked with automobile industries in the United States, Europe and Japan. Auto companies have included Mustang, Renault, Cadillac and Volvo to name a few. He has also worked with Kawasaki, Yamaha and Honda motorcycles. Gil was chosen as a Canon USA “Explorers of Light,” one of a handful of photographers internationally who are pushing the frontiers of digital photography. He has also been the recipient of numerous industry awards. In addition to his photographic career, he is the Chairman of the Ricardo Montalban Foundation. Smith is also the Executive Producer of The Montalbán Theater on Vine Street in Hollywood.
Smith is a member of "Explorers of Light," a prestigious group of professionals chosen and sponsored by Canon USA to push the boundaries of existing film, digital, and printing techniques. Over the course of his 28-year career he has won numerous advertising and photography awards including AdWeek's Beldings, Carnegie Mellon's Andys, Communication Arts magazine's photographic competitions, and The One Club's "The One Show."
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Gilbert Smith was selected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project in August of 2016.
Ron Contarsy Reseda Class of 1972
Ron Contarsy, born 1954, Fashion Photographer. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1972 and Art Center College of Design. While attending Reseda, Ron won the National Scholastic Photography award. Contarsy is a New York-based photographer and director. He has studios in New York, London, Paris and Milan, splitting his time mostly between Los Angeles, New York and Paris.
Ron is a frequent contributor to Tatler Hong Kong, Harper's Bazaar International, Blush Magazine, Red Collector Paris, West East Magazine, NOI.SE, Solitaire Magazine, Millennium Magazine and the Photo Editor and contributor to CIVILIAN Magazine
Ron Contarsy is a founder and principal at Highmark Studios, a boutique creative agency serving New York, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong.
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Ron Contarsy was selected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project in August of 2016.
Jim Felt Reseda Class of 1972
​Jim Felt, Motocross, Mechanic, and Founder Felt Bikes. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1972. Jim grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California and developed an interest in engineering early on from his father, a tool and die maker in the aerospace industry.
When his father died in 1962, Jim and his brother John inherited their fathers fully outfitted home workshop. By the age of seven, Jim was operating every machine in the shop. At twelve, Jim got his first motorcycle and started racing motocross and tinkering with motorbikes. Jim looked at a motorbike and wanted to figure out how to make it faster.
Jim continued to race and the word spread that his bikes were the fastest and that reputation got him hired by Kawasaki in 1972 as a race mechanic when he was still in his teens. In the mid-70s and still in his 20s, Felt was a motorcycle mechanic, designer and former racer. One day, a friend who was into physical fitness bet Jim $100 he couldn't run a mile. Jim took the challenge and started running with him, but couldn't even run a half a mile. Jim decided then and there that he was going to learn how to run. He started with short runs, gasping and coughing along the way. But he got better and the outings were longer. Eventually, he started riding a road bike and participated in a new sport called triathlon. By then, the 5-foot-9 Felt had gone from 190 pounds to 145. It was his good friend Johnny O'Mara who challenged Felt to that one-mile footrace.
In 1976, Jim was hired by Yamaha and worked for Broc Glover, and together they won the AMA 125cc national motocross title three times. In 1980, Jim moved to Honda and became the mechanic for Johnny O’Mara, and together they won a Motocross and Supercross title. Jim stayed with Johnny until 1988, and then spent a year back at Kawasaki in the R&D department.
In the early 80's Johnny O'Mara and Jim Felt used to try and kill each other training for motocross. They used running, cycling, and swimming for fitness and after Jim's first triathlon, like most, had the multisport addiction. In 1989, he was still working for Kawasaki and it was clear that his passion had changed from motorcycles to cycling. According to O'Mara, Felt was the best mechanic and gave the most attention to detail, while building bikes.
Much of Jim's engineering knowledge is from hands-on experience, first with major motorcycle companies and then, in the early 1990s, the bike division of Easton. When Easton decided to sponsor triathlete Paula Newby-Fraser, Felt designed and built her bike in his off time. Newby-Fraser won the Ironman in Hawaii, and Felt's reputation for designing speedy bikes took off. Felt took his biking design to new heights and started building frames that are stiff but comfortable, strong yet lightweight and, more than ever, as aerodynamic as possible.
Jim is a self-taught engineer and self-made success story, one he credits to plenty of obsessions, lots of hard work and a good bit of luck. In 1994, Jim Felt left Eastern Sports and joined forces with a company called Answer Products to launch his own brand of bicycle. In the early 1990s, Felt Bicycles sold about 2,500 bike framesets annually. It was a boutique bike company known mostly to serious triathletes drawn to Felt's reputation for design innovations.
In 2011, when Answer Products and Jim parted ways, Jim was under contract giving Answer the right to his name. This made it difficult for Jim to make a living. Jim eventually was able to get his name back and partnered with Bill Duehring and opened his own business under the name Felts Bikes.
Felt Bikes marketed 175 models selling in 35 countries, every style from cruisers and fixed-gear rigs to mountain bikes and road bikes that cost up to $12,999. His biggest sellers, the Z-series, are more for longer, noncompetitive rides. They cost from $799 to $6,999, with much of the escalating costs tied to lighter weight and a better lineup of components such as cranks, gear shifters, brakes and wheels.
Jim's finest bikes are made of high-end carbon fiber and are considered so good and so light that pros actually have to add weight to comply with cycling's minimum-weight limit. Felt has developed several unique bicycle technologies. For its time trial/triathlon bikes, Felt has developed the Bayonet Fork, which utilizes an external steerer in front of the head tube for additional stiffness and aerodynamic efficiency. Felt has also developed the Equilink suspension system for its full-suspension mountain bikes. Felt extensively utilizes wing tunnel and computational fluid dynamics modeling in its frame design process.
Felt bikes have won championships and mixed it up with the world's best in the Tour de France and Amgen Tour of California. Sponsorship deals are complex. expensive and competitive. Felt says a bike manufacturer must pay $3.5 million or more annually to the team, in addition to supplying 300 of his best bikes.
On February 3, 2017, Rossignol Group announced the acquisition of Felt Bicycles. The announcement noted that Felt had grown to $60 million in revenue at the time of sale, though terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Then in March of 2022, Rossignol announced the sale of Felt Bicycles to Pierer Mobility. Jim's advice for aspiring frame builders: Don't sell your name and stay focused on what you do and what will get you to where you want to be.
Jay Silverman Reseda Class of 1973
​Jay Silverman, born 1956. Photographer, Producer and Director for thirty years. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1973. Jay Silverman has excelled as a Director and Photographer specializing in award-winning television, digital, and print campaigns. Jay founded Jay Silverman Productions in 1979 in Hollywood California, and built a 40,000 square foot facility including 3 sound stages. After graduating from Brooks Institute of Photography with honors, he began his successful career as a photographer by shooing renowned celebrities, sports heroes, music recording artists, and fashion models for national endorsement campaigns. Some of his top campaigns are for Pepsi, Coors, Purina Budweiser, Gatorade, Visa, and McDonald's just to name a few.
Jay’s work has been honored with numerous Belding, Telly, Promax, and Lucy Awards. In addition, he has also been recognized for his achievements in creating and producing many national PSA campaigns for the American Cancer Society, the Foundation for the Junior Blind, The Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, and the Sierra Club. Some of his early directorial work was for the original launches of the smash hit TV series American Idol, Desperate Housewives, NYPD Blues, Drew Carey Show and many more. He also co-created and was executive producer for The Cleaner, an hour long drama for Paramount Pictures, which aired on A & E. Additionally, he produced and directed forty episodes of One on One for TV One featuring many stars like Beyonce, Denzel Washington, Usher, Jamie Foxx and Terrence Howard. He also produced and directed a one hour special titled Inside the Rings with Troy Aikman airing on Fox before the 2011 Super Bowl.
Jay directed the movie Saving Paradise, which was released by Jay Silverman Productions on September 3, 2021. The movie was an inspiring story based on true events. Jay even filmed the opening of the movie using his iPhone 10. The name on the mailbox was a homage to Reseda Photo Instructor Warren King. The film can be viewed on Prime Video as of 2025.
Jay's latest movie Camera was released on July 23, 2024. “While my experience as a photographer convinced me to pick up the script, it was my experience as a father that kept me turning the page, and moved me beyond words. Having raised a daughter born with impaired speech it was easy for me to relate to the story’s young protagonist, Oscar, and the older man who sees his artistic potential and dedicates himself to sharing it with the world. Their friendship is the beating heart of CAMERA - and at a time when I - like so many of us - feel socially isolated and disconnected, this script restored my faith that life doesn’t have to be this way, and that positive change may come from the least assuming amongst us. Through the interplay between still images and moving ones, I want CAMERA to come alive, to be as real to the audience as a thinking, feeling organism, and for it to move them towards a brighter future after the picture fades to black.” - Jay Silverman.
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Jay Silverman was selected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project in August of 2016.
Jeff Widener Reseda Class of 1974
​Jeff Widener, born August 11, 1956, News Photographer. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1974. Jeff worked an underage night shift job at a fast food hamburger chain in Northridge, California to afford his first Nikon camera. Widener made a difficult decision in his senior year and changed high schools to attend Reseda High School in the Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley where legendary photography instructor Warren King supervised the budding young photographer. While attending Reseda High, Jeff won the prestigious Kodak photo competition over 8000 other entrants. Ironically, Jeff did not have his photo taken for the Reseda High School Yearbook. After high school Jeff attended Pierce College and Moorpark College majoring in photo journalism. Next, Jeff Widener worked for the Associated Press as a news photographer and then became AP Chief in the Far East.
Widener is best known for his iconic photograph of the man confronting a line of tanks in Tiananmen Square during the China protests of 1989. He was nominated for a Pulitzer for the photograph. Today the photograph is one of the most recognized photographs ever taken. Jeff Widener has covered hundreds of stories throughout the Far and Middle East involving civil unrest, war and social issues. His photos have covered war and the Olympics. His photos have also covered Afghanistan, Cambodia, Burma, Syria, Jordan, India, Laos, Vietnam and Pakistan to name only a few.
In addition to a Pulitzer nomination in 1990, Jeff has received numerous awards and his work has been highly recognized by the Overseas Press Club, the DART Award from Columbia University, the Harry Chapin Media Award, and the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism to name only a few.
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Jeff Widener was selected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project in August of 2016.
Bill Griffeth Reseda Class of 1974
William Curtis Griffeth, born August 7, 1956 Los Angeles, California, Author and TV News Anchor. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1974.
In 1980, Griffeth received a bachelor's degree in journalism from California State University, Northridge. While a student there, Griffeth co-hosted a weekly interview show, "Straightalk," with Rick Holicker, on KCSN, the university's then-NPR-affiliated radio station. Along with Holicker, he won the Golden Mike Award from the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California for a documentary on NASA's Viking program, titled "The Flight to Mars." In 2000, CSUN honored him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 2017, he received an honorary doctorate.
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Griffeth was part of the production team that started the Financial News Network in 1981. He was nominated for a CableACE award as best news anchor for his work anchoring FNN's coverage of Black Monday (1987). Griffeth joined CNBC in 1991, when NBC purchased FNN and merged it with CNBC. He anchored several programs for CNBC and received 6 CableACE nominations as Best News Anchor.
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CNBC announced on December 12, 2019 that Bill was retiring after almost 30 years with the network.
Elizabeth Whelpley Reseda Class of 1974
Elizabeth A Whelpley, Vice President at NBCUniversal based in New York City, New York. Graduate of Reseda High School School Class of 1974. Beth was the Vice President, Business Affairs at NBC, 2003 to 2004. She is currently the Vice President of NBCUniversal from 2011 to present (2025). NBCUniversal is one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks.
Connie Berg Barry Reseda Class of 1974
Connie Berg Barry, CEO and Board Chair at Pharmavite LLC. Graduate from Reseda High School 1974. Connie Barry worked for Pharmavite LLC, Northridge, California, from October 1, 1979 to February 28, 2017. During Barry's 30-year career with Pharmavite, Connie led the company through its largest growth period. Under her leadership, Nature Made, Pharmavite's flagship supplement brand, significantly grew market share, expanded distribution and maintained its position as No. 1 selling brand in the food, drug, mass and club channels.
On January 21, 2010, Barry, Pharmavite LLC president and CEO since 2005, decided to step down from her role at the company, due to personal health issues. Barry continued working in an advisory capacity as needed to support the organization through the year 2017.
In August 2021, Pharmavite LLC, celebrated its 100th anniversary of their parent company, Otsuka. Their celebration started in Tokushima at Otsuka's “The Encounter” building, which was constructed to commemorate the anniversary. At this celebration. Connie Barry, former Pharmavite CEO and Board Chair, was inducted into Otsuka's Wall of Fame.
Mark Summer Reseda Class of 1975
Mark Summer, born on April 3, 1958, in Encino, California, Musician. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1975. Summer is the original cellist of the Turtle Island Quartet; he is a co-founder of the quartet and performed with Turtle Island (a.k.a. Turtle Island String Quartet) from its founding in 1985 until the fall of 2015.
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Summer grew up playing piano, guitar and, from the age of nine, cello. From the beginning, he was very interested in alternative genres, and as a teenager playing in a rock band called The Purple Testament, later known as The Plague. Summer studied cello with Edwin Geber of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, then with Geber’s wife Gretchen Geber, and graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music, continuing his studies with the Geber family with Stephen Geber as a cello performance major.
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After conservatory, Summer worked in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for three years. Looking for alternative genres, he went on to play in an assortment of alternative ensembles until, in Winnipeg, he met the violinist Darol Anger. Shortly after, he was invited by David Balakrishnan and Anger to join Turtle Island, and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1985 to perform permanently with the band.
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Summer left the band in 2015 to pursue a solo career. In 2011, Summer made his solo concerto debut with the Alexandria Symphony, performing Balakrishnan's Force of Nature, written especially for him. He has lived in the town of Novato, outside of San Francisco since 2009.
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Besides the Turtle Island Quartet, which has released fifteen albums, Summer has played with many other crossover artists. He was a member of the Jazz Chamber Trio with the pianist Alon Yavnai and the Grammy-winning clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera which played primarily Latin jazz. He has also composed pieces for solo cello, including Kalimba and Julie-O, (both the solo and duo versions), the last of which has become very popular among cellists and was included in a 2015 advertising campaign for the Apple Watch. He has also arranged pieces for solo cello including "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" and Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing". He currently performs in a trio with 7 time Grammy winning jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton and is featured on 4 tracks of Ms. Sutton's Grammy nominated recording, "AfterBlue".
Elisabeth McKenzie Reseda Class of 1975
Elizabeth McKenzie, born February 24, 1958, in Santa Cruz, California, Author and Editor. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1975. Elizabeth is a New York Times bestseller author. She did her masters (MA) in literature from Stanford University. Before publishing her own work, she worked as an assistant fiction editor at the Atlantic.
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​Elizabeth started as a staff editor at the Atlantic Monthly. She is managing editor and fiction editor for the Catamaran Literary Reader, and the senior editor of the Chicago Quarterly Review.
Elizabeth McKenzie (BA, Literature, 1981) is a nationally acclaimed writer and editor who is also a pivotal figure in Santa Cruz’s local writing scene. McKenzie is the author of the novel The Portable Veblen, which was longlisted for the National Book Award and shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize; a collection, Stop That Girl, shortlisted for The Story Prize; and the novel MacGregor Tells the World, a Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Best American Nonrequired Reading. McKenzie is the author of “The Dog of the North”.
She has received a Pushcart Prize and was recorded for NPR’s Selected Shorts. She is the senior editor of the Chicago Quarterly Review and the managing editor of Santa Cruz based national literary magazine Catamaran.
Dan Steinhardt Reseda Class of 1976
Dan Steinhardt, born 1958, Photographer and Marketing Manager. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1976. Dan Steinhardt is recognized as a photographic imaging industry leader. He has over three decades of business experience in photography. Dan, also known as Dano, was fortunate to have studied under the legendary Warren King at Reseda High School in Los Angeles, California. He was recognized for his photography skills when Scholastic Magazine awarded him the Grand Prize as the best high school photographer in North America. While still in high school, Dano was assisting professional photographers in Hollywood, California, and that experience, combined with his work at Reseda, enabled him to graduate from Brooks Institute with honors at the age of 20.
Dano has a bachelor’s degree with honors from Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara, CA. He has completed additional studies in the business schools of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
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After graduation from the Brooks Institute, Steinhardt operated his own commercial photography studio in Chicago from 1980 to 1988 specializing in advertising photography for national clients. During this time Steinhardt specialized in large format table-top product and food photography and was recognized by American Photographer Magazine as, "The new face of advertising photography". Before joining Epson, Steinhardt was a marketing director in the Professional Division at Eastman Kodak Company and held a variety of positions at Eastman Kodak in Rochester and New York City including strategic marketing director, market segment manager and professional imaging specialist.
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As Marketing Manager at Epson America of Long Beach, Steinhardt's responsibilities help position Epson as a key player in the photographic industry to high-end professional and amateur photo markets. He also works in the development of new imaging products for photographic markets.
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Dan Steinhardt was selected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project in August of 2016.​
Randy Kerber Reseda Class of 1976
Randy Kerber. Musician and Composer. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1976. Randy grew up in Reseda, composed and played jazz piano in high school and performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival while still a teen. He studied piano since childhood and continued throughout the high school years. In 1977, at age 19, Kerber did his first national concert tour performing for Bette Midler and also began working as a studio player, joining the band of jazz composer and performer Don Ellis playing synthesizer and clavinet for a recording called Music for Other Galaxies and Planets, which featured a jazz/funk arrangement of John Williams’ Star Wars theme. As Randy says during the interview, this was his very first record date.
While Randy Kerber may not be a household name, if you’ve watched any movies over the last four decades you’ve likely heard his work. As a studio keyboardist he’s worked on more than 800 motion pictures. His piano solos can be heard on Lincoln, La La Land, and in the opening and closing scenes of Forrest Gump. He’s worked as orchestrator on more than 50 films and most recently as composer for the film Cello.
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Kerber first discovered the world of film music through Ted Nash who he met in Sequoia Junior High School band. Ted’s father, Dick Nash, was a first call trombonist in the studios. “I would go over to the Nash’s house and Dick would be talking about sessions with John Williams, Henry Mancini; it was really a great environment to learn about studio work and what’s behind the music for motion pictures.”
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At Reseda High School, Kerber played in jazz band and began writing music. He was selected to perform with the Monterey All-Star Jazz Band as a junior and senior. After graduating from Reseda, Kerber joined the AFM in 1976.
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Among the studio musicians who performed for John Williams during the last two decades, Randy Kerber occupies a special place. He’s one of the most accomplished pianists and keyboardists working in the studio environment, with an impressive resume that includes many legendary film composers (Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Michael Kamen, Randy Newman, Alan Silvestri), but also a great deal of iconic recording artists including Michael Jackson, Paul Anka, Leonard Cohen, Rickie Lee Jones, Whitney Houston, Michael Bolton, Rod Stewart, B.B. King, Bill Medley, Annie Lennox, Art Garfunkel, Anastacia, Celine Dion, Natalie Cole, Al Jarreau, Ray Charles. He’s also a Grammy-nominated composer and arranger, and worked as orchestrator for top Hollywood composers including James Horner and John Powell. He had the privilege of being appointed as featured piano soloist on several John Williams’ scores including Angela’s Ashes (1999), Lincoln (2012) and The Book Thief (2013) among others, but was also the keyboard soloist playing the celesta part of “Hedwig’s Theme” on the soundtrack for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001).
Ted Nash Reseda Class of 1977
Ted Nash, born December 28, 1960., American Jazz Saxophonist, Flutist and Composer. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1977. Born into a musical family, his uncle was saxophonist Ted Nash and his father is trombonist Dick Nash, both prominent jazz soloists and first call Hollywood studio musicians. Nash is a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra directed by Wynton Marsalis. He is one of the founders of the Jazz Composers Collective.
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Nash grew up in Los Angeles. His father is trombonist Dick Nash and his uncle was saxophonist Ted Nash. Both were big band veterans, jazz soloists and session musicians who worked regularly with Henry Mancini and Les Brown. The younger Nash began his career on piano when he was seven, clarinet when he was 12, and alto saxophone at 13. When he was 16, he played for one week with Lionel Hampton and the following year was playing saxophone with Quincy Jones, Louis Bellson, and Don Ellis. When he was 18, he moved to New York City and became a member of the Gerry Mulligan Big Band. During the same year, he released his debut album, Conception (Concord Jazz, 1978).
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In the 1980s, he worked with vibraphonist Charlie Shoemake, who had been one of his teachers. He was a member of the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, for whom he played saxophone and wrote arrangements. In 1990s, he performed and recorded as sideman with Wynton Marsalis, Joe Lovano, and Ben Allison. After Allison's invitation, he joined the Herbie Nichols Project, a band which played the music of pianist Nichols.
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Nash has been a composer, arranger, producer, conductor, and writer of liner notes. As a performer, he is a multireedist who has recorded on soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, and piccolo.
Portrait in Seven Shades is a seven-movement suite dedicated to seven modern painters: Claude Monet, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall, and Jackson Pollock. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award.
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Nash's album Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom (Motéma, 2016) consists of Nash's compositions interwoven with historic political speeches by Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Aung San Suu Kyi. The speeches are read by Sam Waterston, Wynton Marsalis, Joe Lieberman, and Glenn Close. In 2017, Presidential Suite won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.
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Jeffrey K. Dudman Reseda Class of 1978
Jeffrey Kent Dudman, born December 9, 1960 in Santa Monica, California, American Animator, Voice Actor, Writer, Director and Producer. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1978,. Goes by Jeffrey “Swampy” Marsh. In both high school and college, Marsh took architectural drawing courses and also took part in a few theater productions, which each helped him understand the view of a set builder.
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As an adult, Marsh became a vice president of sales and marketing for a computer company. One day, he "freaked out" and decided to quit. A friend of his helped him put together a portfolio and go into the animation business. He eventually found himself working on the animated television series The Simpsons as a background layout artist in 1990. Marsh worked on the series for over six seasons and three episodes he helped produce won Emmy Awards. To help him with his animation efforts on the show, Marsh utilized several books about art, architecture design, and artistic rendering which he kept in his household library. His desk in the series' office placed him opposite of fellow layout artist Dan Povenmire; the two bonded over shared tastes in humor and music and quickly formed a friendship.
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With Dan Povenmire, Marsh is the co-creator and co-star of the Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law. Marsh was born in Santa Monica, California, where he grew up with a heavily blended family dynamic. Marsh is known for his contributions to the television animation industry, working for over six seasons on the animated television series The Simpsons. Marsh continued to work on other animated television series, including King of the Hill and Rocko's Modern Life, before moving to England in 1996. While in England, Marsh worked on several animated programs, including Postman Pat and Bounty Hamster, and worked for BKN New Media Ltd. to produce several feature films.
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After six years living in England, Marsh moved back to the United States to work with Povenmire to help produce Phineas and Ferb in 2007, a concept the two had while working together on Rocko’s Modern Life. The series has since garnered Marsh two Emmy Awards nominations for songwriting. After Phineas and Ferb, Marsh and Povenmire created and produced Milo Murphy's Law, which premiered in 2016. Together they created a second Phineas and Ferb film in 2020, called Candace Against the Universe, released on Disney+ on August 28, 2020.
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Marsh is currently serving as an executive producer on the upcoming Disney Junior animated series Hey AJ. On March 16, 2023, it was announced that Marsh would be returning as executive producer and voice director for the upcoming Phineas and Ferb revival.
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Maryann Thomas Reseda Class of 1979
Maryann Thomas, Illustrator and Background Artist, Graduate of Reseda High School Class of 1979. During high school Maryann won the Bank of America Achievement Award and was a Art Honors Finalist Sports Guide Contest winner. After high school, Maryann graduated from Art Center College of Design in 1984 with a degree in Illustration. She was a freelance illustrator for 10 years after graduation. In 1994 she joined the Walt Disney Studios as a background painter in the Feature Animation Division. Her credits include "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Mulan," "Fantasia 2000," and more recently "Atlantis." Currently, she is Art Director for the sequel of "Lilo & Stitch".
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Maryann Thomas is known for her work on Hercules (1997), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Beauty and the Beast (1991). In addition to working for Walt Disney Motion Pictures, she also worked as a background artist for Hanna-Barbera and on the TV special Arabian Nights Maryann was also a Background Artist And Designer at Splash Entertainment.
Maryann Thomas is an accomplished artist with a diverse background in the entertainment industry. With a career spanning from 1994 to the present, Maryann has held key roles at renowned companies including The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Pictures, where notable contributions as a Background Artist and Art Director were made. Currently, Maryann serves as a Background Artist and Designer at Splash Entertainment, a position held since November 2018. Maryann also runs a fine art practice, Maryann Thomas Fine Art, where artistic talents are showcased. Maryann holds a BA in Illustration from Art Center College of Design.
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Jeff Sedlik Reseda Class of 1980
​Jeff Sedlik, born 1962, Photographer and Professor. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1980. Jeff Sedlik works out of studios in New York and Los Angeles as a fine art photographer. His clients include major companies such as Nike, FedEx, Sony, Blue Cross and numerous others. He also is the President of Mason Editions, producing and distributing fine art posters. He is also a professor at the Art Center College of Design, and the founder of the Digital Technology Advisory Council.
Professor Jeff Sedlik is a photography expert witness and provides consulting services on all issues related to photography and other visual artworks: copyright, contracts, licensing, business practices, industry standards, stock photography, model releases, rights of privacy, rights of publicity, metadata, DMCA, technical protection measures, copyright management information, evaluation of lost or damaged photographs and film, evaluation of photography assets, technical matters, forensic digital analysis, litigation support and forensic photography. Professor Sedlik is also a trained negotiator and mediator, providing clients with dispute resolution services, and assisting clients in negotiating favorable settlements without litigation.
Photography expert witness Professor Jeff Sedlik is a respected and acknowledged authority on all forms of commercial, editorial and stock photography and imaging. Sedlik is President & CEO, PLUS Coalition, the global image licensing standards body for the photography and advertising industries. Prior to serving as a photography expert witness, Sedlik served as President of the Advertising Photographers of America (APA) and now serves as that organization’s Chief Advisor on Licensing & Copyright. Sedlik is a faculty member at the Art Center College of Design, teaching courses on copyright, licensing, marketing, business practices and other topics.
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The leading photography expert witness, Sedlik is also a consultant, speaker and author on legal, business, and technical photography topics. Sedlik is both a photography expert witness and a working professional advertising photographer with decades of experience at the highest level. Sedlik has testified before Congress on copyright issues. Named 2005 Photography Industry Leader of the Year 2005 by International Photography Council. Named Photography Person of the Year, 2006, by Photo Media Magazine.
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Jeff Sedlik was selected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project in August of 2016.​​
Fergus Hernandez Reseda Class of 1984
Fergus Joseph Hernandez, 2004 to 2025 Co-founder Besame Cosmetics, Inc., 2002 to 2006 Operations manager and Co-founder A Latin Methodology of Art Group and 1996 to 2002 Color Stylist Walt Disney Animations Studios. Graduate of Reseda High School Class of 1984. After high school Fergus attended the Art Center College of Design BFA (Photography) 1986 to 1990.
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Hernandez, based in Glendale, CA, US, is currently a Co-founder at Besame Cosmetics Inc.. Fergus Joseph Hernandez brings experience from previous roles at A Latin Methodology of Art Group and Walt Disney Feature Animation. Fergus holds a 1986 - 1990 BFA in Photography @ ArtCenter College of Design with a robust skill set that includes Retail, Fashion, Social Media, Customer Service, Product Development and more. Fergus J. Hernandez is known for Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Treasure Planet (2002).
On December 3, 2019, Jamie Wetherbe of Art Center College of Design interviewed Fergus J. Hernandez and the following is taken from that interview: AC: You worked on some of the last 2D animated films for Disney — what was that like? FH: “I was the first male color stylist for Disney Feature Animation; we created the color palettes that would paint an entire scene in a film. I had the joy of working under Roy Disney on Fantasia 2000 for three years, then Atlantis and Treasure Planet before the industry would change over to 3D. Each project took three to three-and-a-half years; once you’ve been on that side you can’t watch animation in the same way again — you can’t unsee the cuts. I left after the birth of our daughter to work again with Gabriela, just four months before the entire 2D crew was let go.”
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Craig Casey Reseda Class of 1985
Craig Casey, Television Video Editor. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1985. Craig was a student of Mr. King's Photography class for 3 years. Casey won many awards and owes a lot of his success in the Television industry to Mr. King. After high school, Craig enrolled at a junior college for a year then transferred to California State University, Chico from September 1987 to June 1990, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications.
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Casey began his career in television in 1990 working for KHSL, KNVN, and KMST as a Technical Director. In 1996, Craig started working for Access Hollywood/NBC, Burbank, California, as a Senior Video Editor from August 1996 to April 2023. 26 years 9 months. Presently, Casey is a Freelance Video Editor for Mitley Productions April 2023 to Present.
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Craig is a veteran, Emmy award winning video editor in the Los Angeles market for over 30 years. He is proficient in Avid, Premier Pro and After Effects edit platforms. Craig was a senior editor for Access Hollywood since it's inception and has cut over 7000 stories in 26 years. His skills include: Videography, Editorial, Broadcasting, Journalism, Video, Visual Effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Technology Products, Cameras, Sports, Attention to Detail, Music, Video Editing, Motion Design, Adobe Creative Suite, Breaking News, TV Production, Video Production, Remote Work, Television, Broadcast Journalism, Animation, Non-linear Editing, After Effects, Color Correction, Post-Production, Motion Graphics, Video Creation, Adobe Lightroom, Broadcast Television, Avid Media Composer, Graphics, Adobe Photoshop, Audio Editing, Editing Software, and Communication.
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Steven Brody Reseda Class of 1988
Steven James Brody, born May 22, 1970 died February 22, 2019, American Stand-Up Comedian and Actor. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1988. Known professionally as Brody Stevens. He starred in the Comedy Central reality series Brody Stevens: Enjoy It!, and was known for appearances on Chelsea Lately and other comedy shows as well as roles in films such as The Hangover (2009) and Due Date (2010).
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While attended Reseda High School, Brody played on the varsity high school baseball team as a right-handed pitcher. His highs included striking out 10 batters on multiple occasion. He was often clocked on the radar gun at 88 MPH with movement. Stevens went on to earn a scholarship to play Division I College Baseball for the Arizona State Sun Devils, starting in four games, pitching 28 innings and recording 3 saves.
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After college, Stevens tried stand-up comedy in Los Angeles, before moving to Seattle, where he began developing an act, in addition to co-creating and co-starring in a public-access television show with Teina Manu called Brody and Teina that garnered a cult following. His career continued for a three-year stint in New York City, before he found a home on the Los Angeles comedy scene.
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Stevens appeared on many late-night television shows. In 2010, Brody launched his own podcast, The Brody Stevens Experiment. In 2011, he starred in and produced a documentary comedy series for HBO called Brody Stevens: Enjoy It! Stevens was also an experienced audience warm-up performer. He performed in a wide range of comedy clubs across Los Angeles and was famous for his late-night spots at the Comedy Store.
Caroline Menjivar Reseda Class of 2006
Caroline Menjivar, born 1988, American Politician and United States Marine Corps. Veteran. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 2006. She has served as a member of the California State Senate since 2022. A Democrat, she represents the 20th District. She became the first LGBTQ legislator to represent San Fernando Valley.
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Menjivar's parents were immigrants from El Salvador, who moved to the United States during the country's civil war. The family lived in the San Fernando Valley, where Menjivar was born and raised. She attended Encino Charter Elementary School.
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After high school, Menjivar applied for a position with the Los Angeles Fire Department but was rejected and instead joined the U. S. Marine Corps, serving between 2009 and 2016, at a time when "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was in operation. She then began working as an EMT while earning her bachelor's degree in sociology from California State University, Northridge. While working for the Los Angeles Mayor's Gender Equity Office as a David Bohnett Fellow, Caroline received a master’s of social welfare from the University of California, Los Angeles.
After graduating, she worked for former Los Angeles Councilwoman Nury Martinez as a field deputy and for former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti where, as the East Valley representative, she organized the first LGBTQ+ Pride Car Parade in San Fernando Valley.
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Menjivar decided to run for the 20th district of the California State Senate in the 2022 state elections. She won the general election with 58.46% of the vote and was sworn in to the state senate on December 5, 2022. She became the first LGBTQ legislator to represent San Fernando Valley. She was appointed to the senate's budget subcommittee #3 on health and human services, and other committees focusing on health, human services and veterans’ affairs.
Warren King Reseda Photography Instructor
Warren King, Reseda High School Photography Instructor, 1955 to 1986. Warren King’s legacy as a teacher of photography can be found in the lives and work of his students. Today they are some of the most famous artists of this generation, including Jeff Widener, Gil Smith, Dan Steinhardt, Jay Silverman and Jeff Sedlik.
Warren "Mr. King" King began his teaching career at L.A. Polytechnic High School and Pierce College in 1950. He came to teaching after three years as a WWII Signal Corps combat cameraman for the Army and Navy, followed by several years working as a professional photographer in Los Angeles. Mr. King also worked in television as a Director of Photography and a Producer, working on the series Q.E.D. for CBS, and creating more than twenty educational films.
When Reseda High opened it's doors in 1955, Mr. King was offered the opportunity to build a photography program from scratch. He took on that challenge, and set about establishing what was to become the single most successful high school photography program in the country.
In addition to teaching, Mr. King served as President of the National Photography Teachers Association, redesigned the photo curriculum for the entire Los Angeles School District, and founded Warren King Fototours. Through Fototours, Mr. King organizes photographic study trips, guiding adult groups on many memorable trips to destinations throughout the globe.
Mr. King has lectured on photography and teaching throughout the nation, both through personal appearances and in television interviews. He and his students have been featured in numerous magazine articles. He has received many awards for his work, including "Teacher of the Year," and was named one of the top 5 photographic educators in the nation. In 1986, Mr. King received an honorary Masters Degree from Brooks Institute of Photography, in Santa Barbara.
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Warren King was selected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Alumni History and Hall of Fame Project in August of 2016.
Leonard Gagliardi Reseda Music Instructor
Leonard Gagliardi, Reseda High School Music Instructor, May 6, 1925 to May 4, 2013. Leonard was the Band Director at Reseda High School from 1955 to 1984. Born and raised in San Jose, California, WWII veteran. Leonard Gagliardi, Mr. "G", was a professional sax player. He started kids out in music in a local elementary school and then farmed them out to junior high schools in the area. Many of the members of the L.A. Philharmonic were teaching music in schools at that time.
Here is a list of alumni Reseda Hall of Fame members who performed under the direction of Gagliardi: James Curtis Peck, 1959, saxophone, member of the Reseda Dance Band the Regenaires, Samuel Cernuto, 1962, trombone, Mark Summer, 1975, cello, Randy Keber, 1976, piano, and Ted Nash, 1979, saxophone and flute.
The Reseda High School Jazz Band became the best in California in 1976, under the direction of Gagliardi, playing at the professional Monterey Jazz Festival over nation-wide radio. In order to perform at the festival, bands applied by sending recordings and the top 10 winners were invited to compete and play during the day. Three finalist bands were selected to compete in an evening performance. Reseda won with Ted Nash, a junior, and Randy Kerber, a senior. Every band who won in California at that time was invited to Montreux France. However, students at the time didn't have the money, so they were not able to attend.
Roy Jae Reseda Football Coach
Roy Jae, Reseda High School Football Coach, 1959 to 1975. Under the direction of coach Jae, the Reseda football teams won five (5) league championships: 1959 All Valley, 1960 West Valley, 1961 West Valley, 1964 West Valley, and 1966 West Valley. In 1961, 1964, and 1966, the Reseda Regents went undefeated in league play under coach Jae. Roy Jae was named All Valley League Coach of the Year in 1961. The football stadium was named in his honor in 1975 upon his retirement. Roy coached Quarterback Hal Bedsole, winner of the Helms All City Football Player of the Year 1959. Reseda took second place in the Los Angeles City Championship game that year. Reseda lost to Huntington Park 46 to 6. Coach Jae also coached Quarterback Bill Susa, Helms West Valley League Player of the Year, and Helms All City Football Player of the Year in 1966. Reseda lost to Los Angeles City Champion Banning High School 28 to 20.
Joel Schaeffer Reseda Football Coach
Joel Schaeffer, Reseda High School Football Coach, 1976 to 2000. Reseda's football field is dedicated to former head coach Joel Schaeffer, who died in early January 2013. During Schaeffer's tenure, the Regents football teams won 6 league titles and 2 CIF championships. In 2019, the Reseda Charter High School football team was the 2019 CIF LA City D-1 Champions, and were the CIF State 5A South Regional Champions in 2019. Reseda boasted Los Angeles City Championships in 1995, 1998, and in 2016 were City Finalists. Overall, under coach Schaeffer, the Reseda football team won league championships in 1980, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1995, 2010, 2011, and 2019 seasons for three different leagues. Regents were 2-A CIF Champions in 1986, 3-A Champions in 1995, CIF City D-1 Champions in 1998, and CIF City D-1 Champions in 2019. Reseda were the 5-A South Regional Champions in 2019.
Joel taught in Los Angeles Unified School District for 40 years and was a football coach at Reseda High for 23 years. He founded Reseda’s police academy magnet program. Schaeffer played football for CSUN, where he was inducted into the Matador Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.
Quentin Quick Reseda Baseball Coach
​Quentin Quick, Reseda High School Baseball Coach from 1955 to 1977. Before Reseda, Quick coached baseball at old downtown Polytechnic High School. After retiring as the baseball coach, the Reseda baseball field was named, Quentin Quick Field, in his honor. During his tenure 23 players have signed professional contracts. In 1965, the Reseda Varsity team played members from the Reseda Alumni in a game at the Reseda diamond. The game was won by the alumni 10-6. Professional baseball players who attended from the alumni where: Gary Kroll (New York Mets), Bobby Pfeil (Chicago Cubs), Tony Davila and Jim McGlothin (Los Angeles Angels), and Ernie Foli (St. Louis Cardinals). The alumni baseball games were played for 15 years in a row.
Under coach Quentin Quick, Reseda's baseball team were Co-Champions with North Hollywood for the All San Fernando Valley League Baseball Championship in 1959. Los Angeles added three (3) teams to the Valley League that year making a it a super league of nine (9) high schools. Reseda's ace pitcher Ed Van Dongen, All Los Angeles City First Team, won 11 games with 2 losses. Reseda's baseball team also won the West Valley League Baseball Championship in 1961 and 1962 under coach Quentin Quick.
Julio Castillo Reseda Soccer Coach
​Julio Castillo, Reseda Soccer Player, High School and College Soccer Coach. Graduate from Reseda High School Class of 1993. Julio Castillo started playing soccer around the time he enrolled at Reseda High School. “It wasn’t until high school that I got into soccer. I got into it little by little,” Julio said. Ted and Terry Davila were assistant soccer coaches the year Julio graduated from Reseda High School. The native of Guatemala, Julio earned his Bachelor of Science degree from California State University at Northridge in 2002. Julio came to Los Angeles Pierce Junior College first as an assistant for women's soccer. As the newly appointed men's soccer program took effect, Castillo was named head coach. He holds numerous years of coaching success at the highest competitive levels in academy, club, college and high school soccer. Formerly, Castillo led the Los Angeles Mission College Men’s soccer team to its first playoff appearance since 2006.
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Castillo also led the Real So Cal Boys U-18 Academy team to the finals and was named Far West Coach of the Year. He won the United States Youth Soccer National Championship with his U-14 boys Valley United Blast club team, which contributed to his winning Youth Coach of the Year honors. Castillo’s Valley United Boys ‘91 squad won League and League Cup in 2002 and 2003. He also led his teams to a National State Cup Championship and Far West Regional title in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Castillo coached his Boys ‘92 team to League titles in 2003 and 2004.
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At the high school ranks, Castillo was the head coach of the Reseda High School Boys’ varsity soccer team for six years, in which the Regents made the playoffs every season. Among the Northridge players Castillo coached while at Reseda High School were Matador All-Americans Edwin Miranda and Willie Sims. In 1998, Castillo and the Regents won the City Soccer Championship and he was named Coach of the Year. He served as the assistant coach for the California State University of Northridge Women’s team for two seasons. Castillo has also coached at Louisville and Harvard-Westlake High Schools.​ Castillo holds a U.S. Soccer Federation "C" Coaching License.
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