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PAUL
ZIFFREN
Sport:Official/Administrator
Inducted: 1993
Country: United States
Born: July 18, 1913, in Davenport, Iowa
Died: May 1991
A well-regarded attorney and civic leader, Paul Ziffren was chairman of
the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC), that staged
the 1984 Olympic Games.
Upon the death of Ziffren, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley said, “One
of his greatest contributions, and a legacy of his leadership, were the
Olympic Games of 1984. He chaired the Organizing Committee, which
produced the greatest Games in the history of the Olympic movement.”
A Los Angeles Times editorial said: “Only the most optimistic
could have predicted that the Games would prove such a winner. And fewer
still
had the chutzpah to say so. Ziffren was one of them. For although the
hands-on operator who put the Games together was Peter Ueberroth, it
was Ziffren, as Chairman of the LAOOC, who coalesced corporate support
behind the Games and gave Ueberroth the necessary freedom to
make things work. It is fitting that the softspoken civic leader wielded
his
influence so quietly that most residents probably don’t know who
he was.
Yet many people were affected at least indirectly by the public activities
he worked at so effectively, usually behind the scenes.” |
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