Aaron Lovejoy

Aaron Lovejoy of Santa Ana, an influential businessman known as a unifying force and a tireless advocate for small-business enterprise, died Friday, apparently from a heart attack. He was 58. Besides owning Ultratech Resources Inc., a Santa Ana-based computer systems company, Lovejoy founded the Black Chamber of Commerce of Orange County in 1990.

Aaron Lovejoy of Santa Ana, an influential businessman known as a unifying force and a tireless advocate for small-business enterprise, died Friday, apparently from a heart attack. He was 58. Besides owning Ultratech Resources Inc., a Santa Ana-based computer systems company, Lovejoy founded the Black Chamber of Commerce of Orange County in 1990.

President, The Black Chamber of Commerce of Orange County; Board Member, Minority Business Council of Orange County When Aaron L. Lovejoy is not busy managing Ultratech Resources Inc., a Santa Ana computer consulting firm he started in 1983, he assists the county's minority-owned businesses.

President, The Black Chamber of Commerce of Orange County; Board Member, Minority Business Council of Orange County When Aaron L. Lovejoy is not busy managing Ultratech Resources Inc., a Santa Ana computer consulting firm he started in 1983, he assists the county's minority-owned businesses.

Aaron Lovejoy discovered that sometimes a special interest can be a springboard for a business tomorrow. In 1979, Lovejoy, then a manager for affirmative action programs for an Irvine pipeline company, began compiling an informal list of minority-owned businesses. He fed the information into his personal computer, using a software program that sorted the companies by their type of business and other categories. His list grew and grew.

* Aaron L. Lovejoy and David M. Todd have joined the board of Providence Speech and Hearing Center in Orange. Lovejoy is president and chief executive of Ultratech Resources Inc., a Santa Ana computer consulting company. Todd is managing partner of Price Waterhouse in Costa Mesa.

Small Business Loan Program: A $50,000 grant to Partnership 2010 will go toward the start-up of a $1-million revolving loan program for small businesses in Orange County. The grant came from Pacific Telesis Foundation and it will be used by the Orange County Minority Business Council, which is developing the loan program in conjunction with Partnership 2010 and credit union executives.

The Black Business Alliance of Orange County, a Santa Ana trade group that promotes economic activity among the county's black-owned businesses, will change its name to the Black Chamber of Commerce of Orange County later this month, according to Aaron Lovejoy, the group's president. The new name "will give us wider recognition in and outside of Orange County," Lovejoy said.

Free Consultation: The Orange County Chamber of Commerce, the county's largest trade group, has opened a telephone help line to advise distressed small-business owners. Fifteen experts knowledgeable about banking, computers, marketing and public relations are available for small-business owners to consult for free, said Aaron Lovejoy, who is organizing the chamber project. Small-business owners can call the chamber, describe their business situation and receive referrals to one of the experts.

Aaron Lovejoy, president of Ultratech Resources Inc. in Santa Ana and last year's president of the Orange County Black Chamber of Commerce, has been appointed chairman of the Diversity Issues Group for the White House Conference on Small Business. The conference will begin in April with a series of local and statewide meetings, culminating in the national conference in June, 1995.

Aaron Lovejoy discovered that sometimes a special interest can be a springboard for a business tomorrow. In 1979, Lovejoy, then a manager for affirmative action programs for an Irvine pipeline company, began compiling an informal list of minority-owned businesses. He fed the information into his personal computer, using a software program that sorted the companies by their type of business and other categories. His list grew and grew.

The Orange County Minority Business Council installed its first female president Friday. Nam Wheeler, a former Vietnamese refugee, was named to succeed Manuel Pena of the county's Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as president of the 4-year-old council. The organization is made up of the local black, Chinese-American, Latino, Korean and Vietnamese chambers of commerce. Wheeler is a board member of the county's Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce and is on the advisory board of Garden Grove Hospital.

The board of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce has elected Thomas Wilck, president of an Irvine public relations firm, as its 1993 chairman. Wilck, who will act as head of one of the county's oldest and largest trade organizations, said he wants to work to improve the business climate. "Too often, we disassociate businesses and jobs. We need to remember, and remind the public that the only place jobs come from is (through) businesses," Wilck said Monday.