Skip to content Skip to navigation

POA Scholarship Fund Receives Generous Donation

February 1, 2014
Martin Halloran SFPOA President

Within the past couple of months, I have been honored to work with former Mayor and Chief of Police Frank Jordan and his wife Wendy Paskin-Jordan, two San Franciscans committed to the betterment of our members and their families. They have made an extremely generous donation of $150,000 to the SFPOA Scholarship Fund. This is by far the largest single contribution ever made to this worthy fund.

The SFPOA Scholarship Fund distributes monetary awards annually to dependents of active, retired, and deceased members. These scholarships are often the only financial awards that these college-bound students will receive. It is crucial to the young men and women that our fund remains healthy and perpetual.

Mayor Jordan and Wendy Paskin-Jordan want to ensure that the dependents of non-commissioned officers may always be afforded the opportunity to pursue a college education. They also want to facilitate the education of young men and women with special needs. Therefore they have requested that two of the provisions of the newly formed Mayor/Police Chief Frank Jordan & Wendy Paskin-Jordan Scholarship Fund be directed at those concerns:

1) The fund shall be available only to dependents of non-commissioned officers.

2) That extra consideration is provided for special needs applicants whose families may be fiscally challenged.

This gesture made by Mayor Jordan and Wendy Paskin-Jordan just further underscores their philanthropic values and their on-going effort to give back to the community.

Mayor Jordan was born February 20, 1935 and raised in the Mission District of San Francisco. (Happy Birthday Mr. Mayor!) He attended St. John’s grammar school before he was accepted into the finest high school on the west coast; Sacred Heart. After graduation, Frank Jordan served in the United States Army.

Officer Jordan entered the San Francisco Police Department in 1957 and soon was rising through the ranks; Sergeant Jordan in 1966, to Lieutenant Jordan in 1973, to Captain Jordan, and eventually Chief Jordan from 1986 to 1990. It was then Chief Jordan who swore me into the department in January 1990.

Chief Jordan retired from the SFPD in 1990 to run for Mayor of San Francisco. The SFPOA endorsed him for his run, and he served as Mayor from 1992 until 1996. As Mayor, he initiated various outreach programs that offered services to the less fortunate of our city. After leaving city government, Mayor Jordan continued to serve as an advisor, mentor, and consultant for many individuals and organizations. 

Wendy Paskin-Jordan is a native of Los Angeles. She was a competitive swimmer from a young age, and has numerous National, Junior Olympic, and AAU Swimming records. She was the most decorated U.S. athlete at the World Maccabiah Games in 1973. During her years at Stanford University, Ms. Paskin was an All-American swimmer. In 1974, she competed in the LA County Lifeguard Two-Mile competition where she became the first and only female beach lifeguard ever to be hired by the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches, which was reputed to be the best lifeguard service in the world in 1974. Ms. Paskin was also the first woman to work the real “Baywatch” rescue boats. During her service as a lifeguard, she received a Los Angeles Supervisors Commendation for saving thirty lives in one summer. Ms. Paskin was also the recipient of the “Quaker Oats Co-Olympian of the Future Award” along with Olympian Mark Spitz. 

Ms. Paskin is a graduate of University of California Hastings School of Law, and the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business. She is the founder of Paskin and Kahr Capital Management LLC, and she sits on numerous boards. In 2005, Ms. Paskin was recognized by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the top 100 Businesswomen in Northern California. In 2010 she was appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom to serve as Commissioner of the San Francisco Employees Retirement System. Mayor Jordan and Wendy Paskin-Jordan still reside in San Francisco.

Mayor Jordan and Wendy Paskin-Jordan are outstanding individuals who have served with duty and compassion and yet who continue to go above and beyond for their community.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Police Officers Association and the entire membership, I express sincere gratitude to Mayor Jordan and Wendy Paskin-Jordan for their most generous contribution to the SFPOA Scholarship Fund.

Slainte!