Wednesday, November 5, 2003
Page 3
Burke Selected as Metropolitan News-Enterprise ‘Person of the Year’
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, has been chosen as “person of the year” for 2003 by the Metropolitan News-Enterprise, it was announced yesterday.
MetNews co-publisher Jo-Ann W. Grace said that Burke, as the only attorney on the board, adds a uinique and valuable perspective.
She pointed out that 2003 has marked Burke’s 25th year as a public official. Burke has served as a member of the Assembly (1966-72), Congress (1972-78), the Board of Supervisors, representing the Fourth District (1979-80), and the Board of Supervisors, representing the Second District (since 1992).
The supervisor will be honored Jan. 30 at a black-tie dinner at the Biltmore Hotel, Grace said. She announced that former Los Angeles District Attorney Robert H. Philibosian, a partner in Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, will serve as emcee, as he has for the last several years.
The co-publisher noted that Burke will be spotlighted in the Dec. 29 issue of the MetNews.
Burke, a native of Los Angeles, received her J.D. from the University of Southern California in 1956. She went into private practice and served as deputy corporation commissioner and as hearing officer for the Los Angeles Police Commission.
Later Burke served as an attorney for the McCone Commission which investigated the 1965 Watts riot.
In 1978 Burke ran for the post of state attorney general as the Democratic nominee, losing to Republican George Deukmejian.
Prior to her election to the board in 1992, she was in practice with the law firm of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue.
Former persons of the year include the late Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Mildred Lillie, 1983; the late California Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk, 1984; the late Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Lester Wm. Roth, 1985; the late Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Parker, 1986; then-Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Billy G. Mills (since retired), 1987; then-Los Angeles Superior Court Executive Officer Frank Zolin, 1988 (now retired); then-Court of Appeal Justice Lynn “Buck” Compton (since retired), 1989; Court of Appeal Justice Miriam Vogel and then-State Bar President (now Court of Appeal Presiding Justice) Charles Vogel, 1990; Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Vaino Spencer, 1991; and Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein, 1992.
Other honored were then-Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge (now Court of Appeal Justice) Robert Mallano, 1993; Court of Appeal Justice Norman Epstein, 1994; then-California Attorney General Dan Lungren, 1995; California Chief Justice Ronald George, 1996; Los Angeles Superior Court Judge (then serving as assistant presiding judge)Victor E. Chavez, 1997; U.S. District Court Judge Ronald S.W. Lew, 1998; Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, 1999; Judicial Appointments Secretary Burt Pines, 2000; then-State Bar President Karen Nobumoto, 2001; and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, 2002.
Copyright 2003, Metropolitan News Company