Attorney Rob Weber, who brought boundless energy, enthusiasm and creativity to the Fourth of July parade/concert/fireworks committee (PAPA) for over a decade, has been selected to ride as this year’s parade marshal.
“Rob served three times as president and has been an important mainstay of PAPA,” said Daphne Gronich, the nonprofit’s president since 2014. “He inspired several new events that broaden the day’s appeal, he brought new members to our board and he worked hard to increase our financial support.”
When Weber and his wife, Karyn, moved to Pacific Palisades in 2001, they bought a house on Alma Real next to the Recreation Center, not realizing that the parade route ended across the street.
Weber initially joined PAPA because he wanted to help bring more crowd-pleasing marching bands to the parade. Growing up in the Chicago area, he had been a drummer with the champion Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps and he was now able to use his contacts to bring similar bands here.
A graduate of the University of Illinois, Weber earned his law degree at Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he met Keith Turner. They both worked for the same Beverly Hills law firm after graduation and both eventually settled in the Palisades.
When Weber signed on with PAPA, he asked Turner to join him, but his friend replied, “Only when you’re president of the organization.” That came four years later, in 2008, and Weber persuaded Turner to organize a live, pre-fireworks musical show in the Palisades High stadium. The Palisades Rocks the Fourth concert is now a major musical event and entertains more than 6,000 people on two stages.
Weber also instigated a Fourth of July home decoration contest in 2008 (for which he still serves as a judge), and when he returned as PAPA president in 2009, he was able to secure the reigning Miss America (from Indiana) as parade grand marshal. Weber volunteered a third time as president in 2013, during which time he improved PAPA’s use of social media while also pursuing major donors. He’s now a committee adviser.
“This is not the Rose Bowl Parade, with million-dollar floats coming down the street, but it is one of the best hometown parades you’re going to see,” Weber told L.A. Times reporter Martha Groves in 2013.
A year later, he was honored as Citizen of the Year by the Pacific Palisades Community Council, which cited “his successful efforts to increase the scope and visibility” of the parade, the concert and the fireworks show.
Weber, 48, is a securities litigation partner in the global law firm DLA Piper, the world’s largest law firm. He has an international practice with a significant focus on Chinese and other Asian clients involved in U.S. litigation and SEC enforcement actions.
The Webers have two children, Tamar, 12, and Josh, 11, and Rob hopes they can all join him along the parade route. In 2014, he was set to ride as Citizen, but PAPA needed a last-minute replacement for one of the parade announcers, and guess who filled in?
By BILL BRUNS
Palisades News Adviser
Keith Turner and Rob Weber. Photo: Joy Daunis
You must be logged in to post a comment.