Roddenberry’s Vision Cited

Education has become a sexy subject these days, says Lynda Guber. That may explain why 700 people turned up on a stormy Monday evening to hear more about it at the brand-new Hotel Nikko in Beverly Hills.

How sexy? None of the key players in Education First!--a nonprofit group that works with the media and entertainment industry to heighten awareness of education issues--had the slightest worry about the rain on their parade. Not even with so many movie and television studios, the targets of their attention, located in the flooded Valley.

“I knew people on the Westside would come,” said a cool Carol Isenberg, who co-founded the organization with Guber in 1988. She was right. They did.

“We’re all commercial enterprises and, sure, we have to be reminded of the importance of education,” said Sid Ganis, executive vice president of Sony Pictures. “We have the power to really influence the kids of the country and of the world.”

The founders and supporters of Education First! have strong ties to the entertainment industry. Guber is married to Peter Guber, Sony Pictures entertainment chairman, and Isenberg is married to Jerry Isenberg, chairman and chief executive officer of Hearst Entertainment.

“When we started this about three years ago, education wasn’t a sexy issue,” said Guber. “Now . . . everybody understands that without an education, nobody will care about the environment, drugs, disease or safe sex.”

At Monday’s event, Education First! presented its Vision Award, recognizing media professionals who have influenced a positive shift in the public’s perception of the value of education. It went posthumously to “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry.

His widow, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, accepted on his behalf.

“This would have been the most important award he ever received, without a doubt,” she said. “As much as Gene would say he wasn’t an educator, he was a learner. He spent his life reading, discussing, thinking, debating. And he wanted to instill in people that they could create their own world, and thoughts and messages.”

Brandon Tartikoff, president of Paramount Pictures and a former Vision Award recipient, also participated in the presentation, as did actors Harry Anderson, Demi Moore and the cast of the television series “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”