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A dedicated and devoted LFIA board member who served as president from 1997 - 2000 and Chairman of the Board from 2000 - 2006.

Two Obituaries published in the Los Angeles Times

Charlotte De Armond, 87; civic leader, filmmaker, author who advocated for adoption, Griffith Park

By Jocelyn Y. Stewart, Times Staff Writer
February 24, 2007

Charlotte De Armond, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker who penned a book on adoption and was a civic leader who played a key role on matters related to Griffith Park, died Jan. 31 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles from complications of surgery. She was 87.

Widely regarded for her work with the Los Feliz Improvement Assn., De Armond was a staunch supporter of Griffith Park. She pushed for adequate fire protection and other public safety issues. She opposed the idea of commercial development in Griffith Park.

For nearly 30 years De Armond, an advocate of adoption, worked in public affairs and public education for the Children's Home Society, a private adoption agency based in Los Angeles.

"I love this organization, and I am proud of what it does for children," she told a Times reporter in 1992.

In 1979 the short film "Teenage Father," which was sponsored by the Children's Home Society and produced by De Armond in collaboration with director Taylor Hackford, won an Academy Award for best live action short film.

"The Changing Picture of Adoption," which De Armond wrote based on her experiences with adoption, was published in 1984.

"I really thought it was time to do the book," she told a Times reporter in 1985. "There are so many controversies in adoption currently. We have been learning in the last 10 years that some of the most basic assumptions we made about adoptions were wrong."

Born in Chicago, De Armond received a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska.

De Armond is survived by daughter Anne Colvin, granddaughters Michelle Colvin and Alicia Colvin and a great-grandson, Vincent Colvin-Foti.

A memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. today at the Old North Church, Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., the Make-A-Wish Foundation or the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. jocelyn.stewart@latimes.com

The following is an obituary published in the Los Angeles Times on 2/18/2007.

Charlotte De Armond passed away January 31 at the age of 87 after a lifetime of dedicated service to her neighborhood, community, city, state and country, enriching the lives of all who knew her. She was an inspiring and beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother as well as an irreplaceable and remarkable leader and stateswoman. She excelled in the fields of civic service, and in communication, advertising, public relations, public education, and high-impact filmmaking, and won the highest awards in everything she attempted. A measure of her greatness can also be found in the number of men and women who consider themselves privileged to call her friend.

She was a courageous and widely respected and honored civic leader who fought for what she considered right and just as president and then chairman of the board of the Los Feliz Improvement Association (1997-2006), as a member of the Greek Theatre Advisory Committee, and in protecting Griffith Park from commercial development in the proposed new Master Plan for Griffith Park. She was also instrumental in assuring a successful opening of the renovated Griffith Observatory.

For her contributions to improving the community within Los Angeles City Council District 4, as well as her distinguished record of community service and commitment to improve the quality of life in her neighborhood, she was named a Woman Pioneer, one of only 15 in the city, and was featured in a mini documentary produced and aired on CityView. Joint sponsor of this honor with City Council was the Los Angeles City Commission on the Status of Women.

She played a key role in bringing adequate fire protection to Griffith Park and Los Feliz; requiring the city to operate the Greek Theatre for competitive bidding as required by law rather than extending contracts unopposed; monitoring the spending of Prop. K funds in the Griffith Observatory renovation and expansion project; suing the city to stop the construction of the Los Angeles Children's Museum at the highly congested intersection of Los Feliz Boulevard and Riverside Drive without the appropriate Environmental Impact Report; laying the foundation for establishing the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council to give communities a greater voice in city government; fighting to keep responsibility for law enforcement in Griffith Park in the hands of Park Rangers instead of the understaffed LAPD; and developing an access plan to limit traffic congestion for the reopening of the Griffith Observatory.

She also will be remembered as a communicator who won area and national awards and whose accomplishments blazed trails for women; a filmmaker whose Live Action Short Film, “Teenage Father,” in collaboration with Taylor Hackford, won an Academy Award, and as the first California state director of public affairs and public education for the Children's Home Society, for whom she produced three other prize-winning films that educated and moved audiences nationally in her sensitive handling of formerly taboo subjects, and an acclaimed book, The Changing Picture of Adoption, and many other publications. Nationally, she was considered an authority on adoption.

Her work for Children's Home Society also won the second of her three Lulu Awards from Los Angeles Advertising Women, a group that also chose her as its president. Her three Lulus were for Best Film, Best Public Relations Campaign, and Best Direct Mail Campaign. She also was the first woman public relations director to serve in two industries long dominated by men, the aviation (now aerospace) industry and the electronics industry. She earned another honor as past president of the Los Angeles Chapter of Women In Communications, Inc., when she was named one of three recipients of the National Headliner Award, the organization's highest honor.

Among De Armond's other film awards were First Place, National Educational Film Festival, Marcus Foster Award; CINE Golden Eagle; and First Place, National Mental Health Association Film Festival for “Running My Way,” about teenage sexuality. For the documentary film, “Growing Up Together: Four Teen Mothers and Their Babies,” she won a Silver Award from the Chicago Film Festival; and for “I'm 17, I'm Pregnant . . . and I Don't Know What To Do” she won A Silver Reel at the San Francisco Film Festival.

In addition to being a past president of the Los Angeles Chapter Women in Communications and Los Angeles Advertising Women, Inc., she was a member of the Public Relations Society of America, a past board member of the Volunteer Bureau, a past officer of the Publicity Club of Los Angeles, and a past member of the Aviation/Space Writers Association, the Fashion Group, and the National Society of Fund Raising Executives.

She is a graduate of the University of Nebraska, A.B., where she studied English, political science and journalism. She pursued graduate studies in political science at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Charlotte De Armond is survived by her daughter Anne Colvin, her granddaughters Michelle and Alicia Colvin, a great-grandson Vincent Colvin-Foti, a nephew Paul Snyder and nieces Leny Yoder and Christa Bruce.

A memorial service will be held Feb. 24 at 2:30 p.m. in Old North Church, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, or the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.