Richard Riordan isn’t just still going strong at 82, he’s jumping headlong into brawls that others won’t go near.
The former mayor of Los Angeles made headlines – and plenty of enemies – in the fall when he campaigned for a ballot measure to move newly hired city workers into 401(k)-style plans and roll back pension benefits for police officers, firefighters and Department of Water and Power workers, among others. Their powerful unions didn’t take it lying down, criticizing his plan in the media and sending out Riordan Signature Busters to undermine his team of petition signers.
Riordan ended up dropping his initiative in November, but remains the loudest critic around of the city’s public employee unions. He said that he’s continuing to look for ways to advance pension reform.
“I was a bit surprised at how effective the local unions were in getting the eye of the news and everything,” he said. “I’m looking for a way to make it very clear to the politicians, the labor leaders and the public that they’re headed into a bankruptcy they can’t stop.”
It’s not his only crusade. Riordan works 30 to 50 hours a week from his home office in Brentwood, where his educational non-profits Riordan Foundation and Rx for Reading are based. He’s spearheaded several educational causes in recent years, announcing a $100 million fundraising campaign in 2011 for his Catholic Education Foundation, and orchestrating a financial turnaround of a group of charter schools.
He also finds time to teach business classes at UCLA and to work on an autobiography, which he said is 95 percent done. He’s also working of counsel at law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP and as a partner at private-equity firm Riordan Lewis & Haden, which he co-founded in the early 1980s.
He continues to receive overtures for money or problem-solving help.
“Too many people are after me,” he said. “I try to give them two or five minutes on the phone. I’ve gotten to the point now where I try not to have meetings – a meeting can take an hour and a half.”
One secret to his longevity has been exercise. Riordan remains an avid skier and cyclist, riding 100 miles a week from Brentwood to Manhattan Beach. He also credits Pilates for helping him stand straight.
In November, he was hospitalized after feeling dizzy, but said it was a false alarm caused by not eating enough that day. A mild heart attack in December 2011 led his doctors to place him on blood thinners. He stopped taking them and said that he’s in fine shape now.
“I couldn’t ski and couldn’t bike ride on blood thinners,” he said. “After about three months, I told the doctors to go to hell.”
– Alfred Lee
