Community honors ‘Lifetimes of Achievement’

Taking in 21 foster children, chairing the Stanford University Board of Trustees and serving on the school board are among the many contributions of seven local residents being honored for their “Lifetimes of Achievement.”

The seven honorees, announced this week, are longtime education leader Ray Bacchetti, philanthropists John and Jill Freidenrich, children’s advocate Norma Hesterman, nurse Sharon Hofstedt, environmentalist/lawyer Tom Jordan and accountant/community volunteer Donald Seiler.

The annual awards are co-sponsored by Avenidas, the Palo Alto-based nonprofit agency serving Midpeninsula seniors and families, and the Palo Alto Weekly.

The awards recognize persons over 65 who have made outstanding contributions to their local communities.

The 2009 honorees will be celebrated at a May 17 garden party hosted by Avenidas, the Weekly and the community website Palo Alto Online.

“Avenidas has been helping seniors for the past 40 years, as well as honoring seniors who help their communities for the past 20 years,” Avenidas CEO Lisa Hendrickson said. “We’re excited to celebrate both these anniversaries together, and we extend an invitation to the community to join us at this festive event.”

Bacchetti has combined a career in education and public service. He was elected to the boards of both the Palo Alto Unified School District and the Foothill-De Anza Community College District. He was vice president for planning and management at Stanford University, then worked for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as program officer for K-12 and higher education.

Until recently he was a scholar in residence at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Bacchetti currently volunteers at the Palo Alto Police Department where he helps with tasks as diverse as taking police vehicles out to be washed, grant-writing and picking up chow for the canines.

He chairs the Citizens Oversight Committee on the Measure A school reconstruction bond and sits on the boards of the Developmental Study Center, an Oakland-based school-reform organization; the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Palo Altans for Government Effectiveness; and Channing House, where he lives with his wife Carol. He also serves on the City of Palo Alto Human Relations Commission.

He has been a strong advocate for the city goal of “civic engagement for the common good.”

John and Jill Freidenrich, who met as Stanford students, have directed many of their contributions to the university. John chaired the Stanford Board of Trustees. Jill co-founded the Community Breast Health Project (now Breast Cancer Connections) and has participated in numerous art activities at the university and its hospitals.

The couple’s gift to the Cantor Art Center created the Freidenrich Family Gallery and, in 2006, the pair committed $25 million for the Stanford Medical Center’s Jill and John Freidenrich Center for Translational Research, aimed at translating basic discoveries into improved patient care.

John Freidenrich in 1968 helped found the Palo Alto law firm Ware, Fletcher and Freidenrich (now part of DLA Piper) and 20 years later founded the venture capital firm Bay Partners. In 2000, he founded Regis Management Company, where he is managing partner. In addition to the Stanford Board of Trustees, his board memberships have included the Children’s Health Council, Stanford Hospital, Packard Children’s Hospital, the Jewish Community Endowment Fund, the Taube-Koret Campus for Jewish Life, the National Gallery of Art and the Center for National Policy.

Norma Hesterman of Los Altos Hills is distinguished by her role as parent to 21 foster children that she and her husband, Vic, took in over a period of 21 years. In addition, the couple has four children of their own.

“Following a year of caring for the child of a friend, we became interested in serving as a foster family,” she said. “We served children who were not available for adoption but could not live with their parents for various reasons. Most were hurting badly.

“These foster children (now grown) are very dear to us and they continue to interact with our own children, attend family gatherings and need us to be their children’s grandparents. We’ve attended college graduations and hosted two weddings.”

In addition to her role as a foster parent, Hesterman continues as an active volunteer in her church, the community and Palo Alto schools.

Sharon Hofstedt has combined a career in nursing and nursing management with an active life as a community leader. She enjoys building and developing nonprofit boards, and her board memberships include Stanford Hospital, Women’s Recovery Association, Avenidas, Palo Alto Community Child Care (PACCC), Samaritan House, Peninsula Stroke Association, American Heart Association and Shadhika Foundation. She and her husband, Tom, live in Menlo Park.

Tom Jordan, a former partner at the San Jose law firm Hopkins & Carley, has for decades applied his legal skills to environmental and other causes, including local political and anti-growth issues. His board memberships include the Committee for Green Foothills, Save San Francisco Bay, Peninsula Conservation Center Foundation and Gamble Garden Center. He was appointed to the 1993 Governor’s Blue Ribbon Committee on a unified environmental law. He chaired the 1967 campaign committee against the recall of the entire Palo Alto City Council, which managed to re-elect Enid Pearson and Kirke Comstock (a Lifetimes of Achievement 2007 honoree). Jordan and his wife, Madee, live in Palo Alto.

Donald Seiler’s philosophy is summed up by the motto of the accounting firm that bears his name: “We serve people, not numbers.” He started Seiler, LLP in 1959. Seiler was on the board of Greater Bay Bancorp for 21 years, and for 27 years served on the board of Ross Stores.

He is also an energetic volunteer, currently serving on the boards of the Taube-Koret Campus for Jewish Life, the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business and the Jewish Community Federation. Past board memberships include the Jewish Home for Aged and Mount Zion Hospital. Seiler and his wife, Ruth, live in Atherton.

Proceeds from the event, which is open to the public, help fund Avenidas’ programs for seniors. Tickets can be purchased for $75 by contacting Avenidas at 650-289-5445, or online at www.avenidas.org.