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committee participation. And if that isn’t enough, he loves to donate items for the club kids such as instruments
and sports equipment.
Biography
As a business owner, philanthropist, and entrepreneur, Richard is the co-founder and president of Mr. Stax
Incorporated, a company he designed and built from the ground up. Mr. Stax currently owns and operates more
than 70 restaurants and employs over 3,000 total employees in the states of California, Nevada, Minnesota,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. Richard also dedicates much of his time and resources to char-
itable causes and community engagement, particularly within the Santa Clarita Valley. He has won the Samuel
Dixon Award in 2006, Franchisee of the Year Award from IHOP Corporate in 2006, National Service to Youth
Award from Boys & Girls Club of America in 2007, 51 Most Influential People of SCV from the City of Santa
Clarita Valley Business Journal in 2011, Silver Spur Community Service Award from College of the Canyons
in 2012, Leaders of Character Award from SCV Boy Scouts of America in 2012, and once again 51 Most Influ-
ential People of SCV by the Santa Clarita Valley Business Journal again in 2012. When Richard isn’t giving to
the community, he is spending time with his wife Marian, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Richard’s home is the hub for family gatherings and is always filled with people who love and admire him.

Gordon Uppman
Docent, Rancho Camulos
Nominating Organization
Rancho Camulos Museum
Organizations
Docent, Rancho Camulos Museum
more than 10 years; Docent, Santa Clarita Valley
Historical Society; Docent, Placerita Canyon
Nature Center Associates (beginning 1998)
Organization Impact
See bio below
Other Contributions
See bio below
Biography
Gordon Uppman loves local history, and local history loves him back – for sharing it and inspiring new gener-
ations of history lovers. Gordon brings the history of the Santa Clarita Valley and Southern California to live
for busloads of schoolchildren who visit Rancho Camulos Museum at the western edge of our valley – in fact,
Gordon is present for EVERY school group tour. Giving them a peek inside the main 1853 adobe and often
teaching them how to make adobe bricks, Gordon shows and tells them how, in the decades before Henry
Mayo Newhall purchased most of the Santa Clarita Valley, the area was a Mexican land grant owned by the
Del Valle family. He doesn’t do it alone. Gordon keeps the schedule for the museum’s team of docents, and he
recruits volunteers to fill spots in the tour schedule, both for special tours during the week and regular tours on
weekends. Gordon has worked hard to keep the museum’s signage along Highway 126 up to date, and he was
Rancho Camulos Museum’s first “Docent of Year” when the recognition event began several years ago. Orig-
inally from Minnesota, Gordon graduated from Pepperdine University with a degree in business management
and worked in engineering at ITT Gilfillan, a Van Nuys-based unit of ITT Defense & Electronics, from which
he retired. Despite his Midwest upbringings, Gordon’s knowledge of California history is encyclopedic, and he
shares it not only at Rancho Camulos but also with visitors to Heritage Junction in Hart Park, where he is a do-
cent at the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society’s Saugus Train Station Museum. Even earlier, he was a valued
member of the Placerita Canyon Nature Center Associates (PCNCA), where he participated both as a volunteer
docent and a volunteer board member. He developed PCNCA’s first website – which was no trivial matter 20
years ago – and he provided inspirational leadership during some difficult times as a board member when the
park was threatened with closure in the face of county budget cuts. Gordon helped out with numerous aspects