SERENITY AT HOME
For Two High-Powered Entrepreneurs
By Sara Pentz

Tucked away in the semi-rural environment of Cowan HeightsTustin, California, is the house that Len bought. He fell in love with it some 12 years ago, is proud to express his passion for it and swears he will never sell it.

As the story goes, one day Leonard (Len) Zuckerman called his prominent businesswoman wife, Madeline, at her Newport Beach-based office, M. Zuckerman Public Relations & Marketing, Inc. She was in an important meeting and could not take the call—that is, until Len absolutely insisted. Much to Madeline’s shock, Len announced in that phone call that he had just bought a house. It wasn’t the kind of bad news she had feared, but it also wasn’t exactly the news she dying to hear. Safely ensconced in their home at the time, she immediately realized the enormous ramifications of selling a house, moving a family, uprooting two children and decorating a new home she had yet to see.

“Our house at the time was in a neighborhood where there was little privacy,” Madeline explains. “From the minute I saw the Cowan Heights house I, too, fell in love with it—because of the beautiful and spacious land it sits on, because it is a great house for entertaining, for family gatherings and friends, because of the serenity and quiet of the property, and because it was a one-level house with no second story. What also attracted us to the house was its openness to the property and the size of the kitchen. Len loves to cook.” Who could ask for anything more: a man who cooks, a beautiful new home and perfect serenity with glass walls all around?

The 4,000-square-foot house was built in the l970s in the ranch style. It was remodeled and updated one time before the Zuckerman’s bought it. Then Madeline brought in a professional interior designer to turn the rooms into contemporary inviting spaces with simple colors and design elements.

Later the Zuckermans added a 1,200-square-foot guesthouse that features an office on the top level. The second level was created as part cabana for easy access to the pool and part guest living area with a sink, stove, small refrigerator, fireplace and a separate bath. On the subterranean level of the guesthouse there is a workout room and a custom-designed wine cellar.

The main house has beautiful open spaces inside with a massive skylight in the kitchen. Most of the back of the house is a solid wall of glass looking out across the flowered landscape much like a virtual forest. Yet, still this house, open and inviting as it is, has a personal privacy that separates the Zuckerman’s far from the maddening crowd. “At night there is total peace and quiet,” adds Madeline. “Even the streets are quiet. It is like a real old fashioned neighborhood.”

It is a Home for Celebration
This year Madeline Zuckerman Public Relations & Marketing, Inc., is celebrating 25 years in business in Southern California. “It is difficult to believe that 25 years have passed since I established my firm here,” explains Madeline, who relocated to the West Coast from New York, where she was a Vice President and Partner with Letitia Baldrige, Jacqueline Kennedy’s former Press Secretary in The White House.

Her agency has enjoyed success and steady growth throughout its 25 years, having handled clients in such industries as commercial, industrial, and residential real estate, real estate development, building/construction, architecture and interior design, retail/shopping centers, food/restaurant, medical, fashion/cosmetics, travel/hotel/hospitality, non-profit, automotive, and financial/banking.

With a client list too long to mention here, M. Zuckerman Public Relations & Marketing, Inc. developed its own niche by partnering its clients with local non-profit groups. Madeline’s extensive contacts within the community have given her an in-depth knowledge of the workings of the county and a familiarity with its nonprofit sector, allowing her to match groups with clients. “I believe giving back to the community is a responsibility of every business owner,” she says.

As a result of her community activities, Madeline and her husband, who have been married 34 years, have opened their home for small dinner parties and entertained for intimate charitable events. They have wined and dined the likes of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director Carl St.Clair and his wife Susan, and for KOCE-TV’s President and General Manager Mel Rogers. Over the years prominent arts and business leaders have been invited to enjoy the fine food and hospitality that make the Zuckerman’s home a part of the landscape of Orange County.