Honorees

Howard and Sonya Waldow
Howard Waldow was born in Los Angeles, attended high school in Beverly Hills and received a BA in psychology in 1970 from CSUN. In 1972 he started Michael Howard Furniture with only $1000 - an enterprise that eventually grew into one of California’s largest residential furniture companies. At the end of 1999, Howard retired and became an investor, primarily in real estate.

Sonya Tuchman-Waldow was born in Munich, Germany to Polish Holocaust survivors. A teenage modeling contest led to a successful modeling and acting career in Europe which brought her to the United States in the late 80s. Sonya holds a Masters Degree in Psychology, speaks four languages fluently and currently works as a journalist and TV producer for German television. Howard and Sonya are the proud parents of 16-year old Daniel and 4-month old Ariana.

Ed Ames
Ed Ames is a singer, actor and community activist who has appeared in Broadway plays, major motion pictures and has been a recording star in his own right. His greatest success as a stage actor came when he played Chief Bromden in the Broadway production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest opposite Kirk Douglas. Talent scouts at 20th Century Fox saw Ed in the production and invited him to play the Native American Mingo on the television show Daniel Boone, a role he played from 1964-70. Ed has made many recordings as a solo artist. He released his first single called “Try to Remember” in 1965 and had even a bigger success in 1967 with “My Cup Runneth Over”. Succeeding hits were “When the Snow Is On the Roses”, “Time Time” and “Timeless Love”. Ed has been involved in innumerable Jewish and environmental charities over the past 40 years and is currently the president of the Los Angeles branch of the Zionist Organization of America.