Editorial

Everyone will miss Rosalind Williams.

And no one will ever quite replace the Newport Beach Conference and

Visitors Bureau president who was so vivacious, tenacious and full of

great ideas, creativity and life.

Her passion for her job, her love for Newport Beach and her role as

Promoter No. 1 of this town were unequaled.

The accomplishments she attained since taking over the reigns of the

sagging visitors bureau in 1994 were incredible.

Williams was instrumental in bringing visitors into town for the Davis

Cup, the Toshiba Senior Classic golf tourney and the long-running

Newport-to-Ensenada Yacht Race.

But most notably, thanks to Williams, college football teams from

around the nation now know if they have a bowl game to play in Southern

California, Newport Beach is the place to stay.

In fact, it was her handiwork when, a little more then two years ago,

the Michigan Wolverine followers were coaxed to come to Newport-Mesa to

cheer on their Rose Bowl-bound and eventual co-national champion football

team.

The team’s boosters raved about their stay here and turned the town

into a miniversion of Ann Arbor, complete with marching bands and

cheerleaders.

Because of Williams’ work, there are already efforts underway to

attract fans of next year’s Rose Bowl competitors.

For every high-profile venture she pioneered, there were dozens of

smaller but just as meaningful events that blossomed under her tutelage.

At her funeral last week, all these accomplishments seemed small next

to the impact Williams had on her two grown sons, her husband, Rick John,

and her friends in the community. The stories told about her life were

evidence of something most of us already knew: Williams was an

extraordinary human being who made everyone around her better.

Of course, we have more tangible evidence of the amazing job she did

as head of the visitors bureau. Evidence of her success came recently

when Williams provided the city of Newport Beach with a symbolic check

for $21 million, the amount tourism had contributed to the town over the

last year.

So now, as if her untimely passing at the age of 55 isn’t heart

wrenching enough, Newport leaders have another painful task ahead of

them: finding someone who can do the job as well as Williams.

And as much as we will all miss her--and as hard as it will be to fill

her shoes--those assigned to that job need to recognize just how crucial

it is to find a high quality, qualified candidate.

Rosalind Williams would expect no less.