Ball honors local who’s ‘always faithful’

B.W. COOK

The Semper Fidelis Award, one of the highest honors bestowed upon an

American citizen by the Marine Corps was presented to Geoffrey L.

Stack of Corona del Mar.

Stack was honored at the Marine Corps Scholarship Ball held

recently at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. The

ballroom was filled with 550 guests who had come to honor Stack, who

in civilian life serves as managing director of the Sares-Regis

Group, an Irvine-based real estate development and asset management

firm.

He joins 21 previous Semper Fidelis Award winners in Los Angeles

who include the late Brig. Gen. Thomas F. Riley -- a Newport Beach

resident and former Orange County Supervisor -- and distinguished

scientist and philanthropist Arnold O. Beckman. Also among the

previous Semper Fidelis honorees are former California Gov. Pete

Wilson, President Ford and esteemed broadcaster Walter Cronkite. The

awards come from the Los Angeles region of the Marine Corps

Scholarship Foundation.

Stack was honored with a personal tribute from U.S. Marine Gen.

James Jones, who is the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

“Geoffrey Stack is one of our country’s great citizen soldiers,”

Gen. Jones said.

Stack graduated from Georgetown University and then received a

master’s degree from the Wharton School at the University of

Pennsylvania. He served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam and earned two

Bronze Stars with V for valor, a Purple Heart, 21 air medals and a

Navy Commendation Medal with V. He has also worked in Washington D.C.

as an aide to the late U.S. Sen. Paul Douglas (D.-Ill.).

Today, this Corona del Mar citizen is a high-ranking executive

with one of the nation’s leading real estate development firms, and

also manages to serve the community. Stack is chairman of the board

of the National Housing Council, a trustee of the Urban Land

Institute and serves on a variety of additional boards within his

industry.

With his wife Nancy, Stack has founded a nonprofit organization

dedicated to finding a cure for a rare disease called cystinosis. The

affliction has a personal side in that it affects the couple’s

daughter Natalie. In just 2 1/2 years, the Stacks have helped to

raise $2.5 million to fund research.

Members of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, its guests,

leaders and dignitaries applauded Geoffrey Stack for making a

difference, not just in 2004, but throughout his entire life. Since

its inception in 1962, the foundation has awarded more than $21

million in scholarships to more than 16,000 students. The young

people are children of both current and former U.S. Marines.

This year, $1.5 million in scholarships will be awarded to more

than 1,000 students. The recent gala celebration honoring Stack

helped to raise more than $700,000 toward this goal. Three Orange

County citizens will be among the scholarship recipients. Vashti

Bocker of Irvine, Jessica Eden of Dana Point and Ashley Wiseman of

San Clemente will each receive college support because of the work of

citizens like Geoffrey Stack and the many more who dedicate their

lives to the service of others.

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