CHAMBER LEADER SOTERAS DIES AT 75.

Byline: RICK COCA Staff Writer

Patricia Soteras, a former child star and Agoura-area chamber director, has died. She was 75.

Soteras, the executive director of the Agoura/Oak Park/Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, died Oct. 26 of a heart attack.

As a child, Soteras, under the stage name of Patsy Lee Parsons, appeared in several of the classic ``Little Rascals'' films and in ``Yankee Doodle Dandy'' with James Cagney.

As the chamber's executive director for the past seven years, she was largely responsible for increasing the membership tenfold to 1,500 members.

Soteras' son, Alex, a chamber vice president and the executive director of the United Chambers of Commerce, said it was his mother's idea to offer nonprofit organizations annual memberships for just $1.

She is survived by her son; daughter, Hazel Zook of Thousand Oaks; and ex-husband, Solon Soteras of Westlake Village.

Soteras' children have established a scholarship in her name at Pepperdine University, where she worked for a decade. The scholarship will assist students studying public relations and business. For more information, call [phone].

[e-mail]

[phone]