EDITORIAL A WORTHY LIFE SAYING GOODBYE TO VALLEY LEADER BOB SELLECK.

THE San Fernando Valley lost an important civic leader and philanthropist last week when Robert D. Selleck, 79, died from complications following surgery at USC Medical Center.

A real-estate developer by trade, Selleck came out to the Valley from Michigan in 1948, on the advice of his brother, who observed that General Motors had just built a plant in Van Nuys and expected the area to boom.

And boom it did, to Selleck's benefit and, through his generosity, to the community's.

The GM plant became important again in his life in 1996 when Selleck and his sons undertook the redevelopment of the old GM plant into a commercial center that has given new life to the heart of the Valley.

Always eager to give back to the community that gave so much to him, Selleck and his wife, Martha, were generous contributors to the March of Dimes and other charities. He was the director of the organizing committee that brought the 1984 Olympics to L.A. and served as director and then vice president of Valley Presbyterian Hospital.

In 1982, he won the Fernando Award, the Valley's highest civic honor.

The Valley owes much gratitude to Selleck. He lived a long, worthy and honorable life.