Claremont professor Joseph Maciariello may be the most tireless devotee of late management guru Peter Drucker.

Maciariello recently revised Drucker’s 1973 landmark book, “Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices,” by boiling it down from nearly 900 pages to a more svelte 600. Maciariello has worked on updating some of Drucker’s other works, but he said nothing compared to this two-year task.

“Anything would be a breeze compared to this,” he said. “You’d have to be insane or feel some inner drive for this. I deeply believe in the work.”

Maciariello studied under Drucker, a professor at Claremont Graduate University, and worked with him for several years before he died in 2005.

Football and Food

John Papadakis, owner of Papadakis Taverna of San Pedro, is something of a local celebrity, known for his time as a USC football player in the 1970s and as a fun-loving, gregarious restaurateur. But now, he’s also recognized as something else the father of radio and television personality Petros Papadakis.

The younger Papadakis, a former USC football player, has gained fame of late as a sports commentator and as local sports talk radio host. The elder Papadakis, who makes a weekly appearance on his son’s KLAC-AM (570) afternoon drive talk show, said his son follows in the tradition of other great Greek orators.

“Being able to flap your jaw for a living is quite a feat,” the elder Papadakis said.

Flapjack Fun

Michael Mendelsohn, Glendale-based IHOP Corp.’s newly appointed vice president of finance, says several factors including the company’s big acquisition last year fueled his decision to work for the famed flapjack purveyor.

“The purchase of Applebee’s stoked my interest. I also happen to love the food,” the 42-year-old Mendelsohn said.

His favorite IHOP dish: “a short stack of buttermilk pancakes and syrup.”

Before joining the pancake team, Mendelsohn was chief financial officer and vice president of Teleflora.

Jersey Girl

Jerseys of some of the greatest local athletes grace the rafters in Staples Center, including Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky. As of April 4, Penny Toler, the first woman to have her number retired by the Los Angeles Sparks, has her jersey permanently enshrined next to those greats.

Since the jersey was retired two seasons ago, it has only been on display during the Sparks season.

Team owners Kathy Goodman and Carla Christofferson convinced executives of Staples owner and manager AEG to hang the jersey all year round. Toler is now the general manager of the Sparks.

Staff reporters Sharifah Chammas and David Nusbaum contributed to this column. Daniel Miller can be reached at

dmiller@ labusinessjournal.com

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