Ever since he started the San Jose Repertory Theater in 1980, Jim Reber has been something of a serial entrepreneur when it comes to launching nonprofits. But despite starting at least four different organizations, Reber said he’s never had a real going away party.
That 45-year streak ended Thursday night when the San Jose Parks Foundation threw Reber a gratitude-filled party at the Okayama Room at Kelley Park as he steps down as the group’s founding executive director after 15 years.
San Jose Vice Mayor Pam Foley told Reber he was a “tireless advocate” for the city’s open spaces. “There are so many ways you have influenced the city of San Jose and its parks,” Foley said.
The city of San Jose approached Reber to launch the foundation in 2010, when it became obvious the city’s bleeding budget would need help from outside funding sources to keep the city’s parks accessible and in the public eye. Reber founded the San Jose Rep in 1979, produced the city’s Walk for AIDS for seven years and served as founding executive director in the 1990s of the San Jose Inner-City Games. He also produced several big San Jose events, including arts festivals and State of the City speeches.
While none of that screams “parks guy,” Reber had other qualities that made him the right person for the job.
“I have a certain skill for bringing people together and using the best ideas, building a consensus and moving forward with that,” Reber said. “It’s been a good ride.”
The Parks Foundation became a hub for other nonprofits and neighborhood groups that wanted to raise money to improve their parks or host parks-related events — even city-sponsored ones like Viva Calle and the 2016 park activations for the Super Bowl. At summer celebrations, the foundation honored people and groups who had been advocates for San Jose’s parks, from Apple co-founder (and Butcher dog park benefactor) Steve Wozniak and the San Jose Sharks Foundation to Rotary PlayGarden inspiration Julie Matsushima and the late Dave Fadness.
Foley was joined by fellow councilmembers Bien Doan and Michael Mulcahy to present Reber with a commendation from the city for his dedication to the city’s parks and help with projects including the revitalization of Thousand Oaks Park, the reopening of San Jose Family Camp, the restoration of the Japanese Friendship Garden and the rescue of the San Jose Veterans Day parade last year.
San Jose Parks Foundation board president Steve Nakano — who did double duty by serving as emcee and playing in the band that provided the entertainment — presented Reber with a pair of gifts and offered a toast to the outgoing leader.
While Reber accepted his laurels, he was quick to say Thursday’s gathering wasn’t a retirement party. “I’ve never held a job for more than seven years before this one,” he said. “I’ll be looking for the next thing to do.”
The San Jose Parks Foundation, meanwhile, is looking to build on Reber’s legacy. Last year, the organization developed a three-year strategic plan that lays out its mission to be an unapologetic advocate for parks, trails and open spaces and helps tell the story about how San Jose’s parks drive vibrancy in the community. (In the interest of full disclosure, my wife recently joined the parks foundation board.)
You can find out more about the foundation and its plan at www.sanjoseparks.org.
LEGAL EAGLES: It was all about Fremont Union High School District at this year’s Santa Clara County Mock Trial finals. The defense team from Lynbrook High School was successful, defeating the prosecutors from Cupertino High in the championship round and advancing to the state championships in Los Angeles on March 14-16.
This year’s hypothetical case involved a person charged with kidnapping their spouse’s rival candidate for a city council seat. The defense successfully argued their client had an alibi and the alleged victim faked the kidnapping. The final round took place at the Superior Court’s Old Courthouse in downtown San Jose, with the tournament being presided over by sitting Superior Court judges and scored by local attorneys.
Cupertino High School’s Faith Tran won the 2025 Santa Clara County Courtroom Artist Contest; two coaches — Jay Venkatesan from Homestead High and Christian Cotter from Prospect High — were inducted into the Santa Clara County Mock Trial Coaches Hall of Fame; and Court Manager Georgia Ku received the Johnny Gogo Award for her 20 years of outstanding dedication to the mock trial program.
ART AND ABOUT: Artist Maya Gurantz will be at the de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University on March 5 to present her performative lecture-demonstration, “The Dancing Plagues.” Gurantz’s research goes back to medieval times when compulsive group dancing would erupt during times of extreme disease and economic distress and traces this all the way to the present and the explosion of TikTok dances during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 4 p.m. presentation, which is free to attend, is part of the de Saisset’s current exhibition, “Maya Gurantz: The Plague Archives,” which is on display through June 14.
OSCAR-WINNING STATEMENT: The Rotary Club of San Jose got its annual Academy Awards preview Wednesday from Brian Adams, who in addition to being the vice president of advancement for Bellarmine College Prep also delivers a regular entertainment segment on KRTY.com and is a member of the Critics Choice Association. A big highlight of the program each year is when Adams strings together all the titles of the Best Picture nominees into a single sentence. Here’s what he came up with this year:
“A wicked temptress named Anora, who was a complete unknown until the convening of a conclave, became involved with a brutalist named Emilia Perez, ingested the second dose of a granular narcotic that tasted like sand called ‘The Substance’ (known on the streets as ‘Dune, Part Two’), told some wanna-be drug dealers, ‘It’ll cost you a nickel, boys,” and despite passing out briefly, woke up to proclaim, ‘I’m still here.’ “
Let’s see Conan O’Brien try that!