Business leaders honor peers for spirit, survival

It was a day of honors, from charity work to chocolate shops.

At a luncheon Friday held by the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce, the city’s business leaders honored their fellows for community spirit and the will to survive.

Numerous city officials showed up to lend their applause as well.

Three kinds of awards were given out: the Athena Award, honoring one woman of professional accomplishment who has also served the community; the Outstanding Citizen Award, which honors someone for extraordinary acts of community service; and the Legacy Awards, which honor long-time family businesses in the Huntington Beach area.

This year’s Athena Award went to Barbara Delgleize, co-owner of Keller Williams Realty.

Delgleize has been president of the Orange County Assn. of Realtors, is working to raise $250,000 to build a home for a disabled veteran, and lends a moving van to nonprofit groups, said presenter Jo Andrews, who won the award last year.

Delgleize said the Athena Award was a sign of how far women had come in the business world.

“Women have never been so empowered as they are today,” she said.

The Outstanding Citizen Award went to retired Air Force Brigadier General Alfred Guidotti, who has spent his days of retirement volunteering on the boards of charities, including the Community Care Health Center, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley, the 3/1 Marines Foundation and a local youth shelter.

Guidotti said he was honored by the award but was “only a conduit” for the work of others.

“There are many generous, dedicated men and women throughout the city who are the human infrastructure of Huntington Beach,” he said.

Most of all, he thanked his wife, whom he called the catalyst for his community involvement.

“I was busy working,” he said. “I was not much of a community person. I rode her coattails into this community. She had me get involved very quickly.”

Legacy Awards went to Farmers & Merchants Bank, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Jack’s Jewelers, and Makar Properties, all of which have been in Huntington Beach more than 15 years.

Just staying in business was the least of the challenges for the Daniel family, owner of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory on Main Street, said presenter Erika Alvarez of Ilona & Company, Re/Max Real Estate

“Which is more difficult: Working with your family or spending each day surrounded by chocolate?” she joked.