David Rutherford:
CLASS OF 1979
John Muir High SchoolClass of 1979
Pasadena, CA
Horace Mann Junior High SchoolClass of 1976
San diego, CA
Eliot Junior High SchoolClass of 1975
Altadena, CA
Thomas A. Edison Elementary SchoolClass of 1973
Altadena, CA
Audubon Elementary SchoolClass of 1973
Altadena, CA
David's Story
Life
After graduating from Muir High School, I earned an associate degree at Pasadena City College, then transfered to Cal State Northridge, where I received my bachelor's degree in journalism (1983).
During the first half of the 1980s, I was an usher at Dodger Stadium. I also interned with the Los Angeles Daily News, then was hired as a full-time reporter, covering general-assignment news, religion, sports and business. My journalism career lasted eight years (1981-'89)
I married Lorena Cebreros in 1988. Nine months after our wedding, Lorena had a stroke that left her in a coma for a week. She recovered and four years later, we were blessed with the birth of our only child Robyn in 1993. She's a very bright girl and a straight-A student at Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona.
In 1989, I left the Daily News to become a public information officer for the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD), where I worked for 13 years. One of my jobs was coordinating the visits of foreign dignitaries. This provided some international travel opportunities to Milan, Italy and Taipei, Taiwan.
I went back to school in 1996, earning a master's degree in public policy from Claremont Graduate University (1998).
In April 2000, I began a part-time business as a personal financial analyst. I left AQMD in September 2002 to concentrate my efforts on the business full-time.
In August, 2005, I was hired as communications coordinator for the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority. My main role was providing public affairs for the agency responsible for design and construction of the extension of the existing light-rail transit line running from Los Angeles to Pasadena. The Pasadena-to-Montclair project should be completed by 2014.
I left the Gold Line at the end of 2005 and went back to the financial services industry. In May, 2006 I became an investment executive with Trilogy Financial Services, which specializes in asset and income management, tax planning and estate planning.
In my spare time I am involved with Lions Clubs International, which has helped me coordinate a number of fundraisers for Victor Wright, a high-school classmate paralyzed during a football game in 1976.
Over the past five years, both my mother and father have passed away: Arlene (1936-1998) and Don Sr. (1934-2001). Arlene was the daughter of UCLA's first African American varsity football player (Sam Storey, 1933-'34). In 1971, when the Altadena Library on Mariposa Street was completed, my mother became the first African-American public librarian in the San Gabriel Valley.
My father was a 20-year veteran of the Altadena Sheriff's Station and spearheaded the effort to keep it open when funding threatened...Expand for more
closure during the 1990s. He also taught law enforcement classes at PCC and Cal State L.A. His brother, economist William Rutherford, was appointed the first chief financial officer of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by Martin Luther King Jr. He was one of several former King colleagues featured on the ABC News documentary "Eyes on the Prize."
I have seven siblings, five of whom went to Muir: Natalie Salazar ('75), Mike Salazar ('77), Don Rutherford Jr. ('78), Janice Rutherford Elahian ('80) and Nancy Rutherford Redman ('82). Don Jr. and Nancy are also CSUN graduates.
Workplace
My very first job was at Burger King in Pasadena, the first six months following its opening in 1978. I worked at Baskin-Robbins up the street for a year after that.
In 1980, I was hired as an usher at Dodger Stadium, where I worked the aisles, elevators and escalator. Occasionally, I took tickets at the turnstiles. I worked there for five seasons, including one World Series.
During my last two years of college, I had three part-time jobs: I was a copy clerk at the Los Angeles Daily News, an assistant teacher with the L.A. Unified School District (Montague Street School) and the usher job.
In 1984, I was promoted to city desk clerk at the Daily News and edited the Saturday religion page. The next year, I became a full-time reporter. For four years, I wrote articles for the neighborhood, business and main news sections.
From 1989 to 2002 I was a Senior Public Information Specialist with the South Coast Air Quality Management District. My duties included press relations, local government affairs, community outreach, event coordination, protocol and environmental justice.
Over most of the past decade, I was a personal financial representative, helping families get out of debt, restructure their finances, reduce their tax liability and build wealth.
In September 2008 I returned to the public sector and now work as a Communications and Community Relations Manager with Omnitrans, public transit agency serving much of the 909 Inland Empire. My job is to inform businesses and residents about an upcoming bus rapid transit construction project that will enhance the agency's current level of service by providing higher average speeds, fewer stops and more frequent service. The line is designed to serve as a sort of light-rail on rubber tires, which will attract new businesses, transit-oriented development and a new breed of ridership looking for a fast, safe, clean and efficient alternative to the automobile. The same month, I was hired as an adjunct faculty member at Pasadena City College, teaching a journalism class I took when I was enrolled there (Public Relations and Organizational Communication).
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