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Center for Oral and Public History to Celebrate Three Orange County Leaders

Honorees Include Brad Gates, Sandra Hutchens, Richard J. O’Neill
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Cal State Fullerton’s Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History will honor three community leaders at its annual “Celebrating the Legacy of Orange County’s Political History” event Thursday, March 7, at the Summit House in Fullerton. The event features a 5:30 p.m. reception and 6 p.m. dinner and program.

This year’s honorees include:

  • Brad Gates, former Orange County sheriff-coroner (1975-99)
  • Sandra Hutchens, former Orange County sheriff-coroner (2008-19)
  • Richard J. O’Neill, former State Democratic Party chairman and co-founder of the Democratic Foundation of Orange County (posthumously)

Past honorees include Richard C. “Dick” Ackerman, Howard Adler, Wylie A. Aitken, Frank Barbaro, Marian Bergeson, Marilyn Brewer, Lynn Daucher, Tom Fuentes, Shirley Grindle, Lois Lundberg, Jim Morrissey, Jerry Patterson and Gaddi Vasquez.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Lawrence de Graaf Center for Oral and Public History houses the largest regionally focused oral history archive in the state. Driven by the work of CSUF students, COPH houses more than 6,000 recorded interviews, transcripts, photographs and other materials.

RSVP online by March 1. For more information, contact COPH at 657-278-3580 or coph@fullerton.edu.