EL SEGUNDO HERALD September 10, 2020 Page 3
Obituaries
Margaret “Margo” Moran
Margaret “Margo” Moran (nee
Maguire) passed away peacefully
on Saturday August 1, 2020
surrounded by family.
Margo was born on February
9, 1928 in Kirkintilloch, Scotland.
She was the youngest
girl of nine siblings and had a
wonderful childhood. A devout
Roman Catholic, she was active
in the church and, in her younger
years, volunteered to assist the
elderly and infirm in Lourdes, France. It was
on one of these pilgrimages that she met her
future husband, Jim Moran. They married
and settled in Staten Island, NY and had two
sons, Jim and Denis. Her beloved husband
passed away in 1979.
Margo worked as a certified Dental
Assistant, raised her boys and at the age
of 74 moved cross country to help raise
her only grandchild, Kathleen.
She eventually settled in El
Segundo, California where
she happily spent most days
walking to and from both Richmond
Street Elementary and El
Segundo Middle School for the
start and end of each school day.
In 2008, Margo moved to Park
Vista Senior Housing where she
had a large circle of friends with
whom she loved spending time.
A memorial mass will be held at St.
Anthony’s Church, El Segundo on Sept 17,
2020 at 10:30am and a funeral mass will
be held at St. Sylvester’s Church in Staten
Island, NY. later in the year. Burial will
be alongside her husband in St. Peter’s
Cemetery, Staten Island. In lieu of flowers,
please send memorial donations to Providence
TrinityCare Hospice. •
Benna J. Blair
Benna J Blair born on November
18, 1929 passed away on August
22, 2020 peacefully in her home
in El Segundo.
Benna was born in Pennsylvania
and was a resident of El
Segundo for over 60 years. She
retired from Raytheon, Quality
Management, after 30 years.
She was a member of the First
Baptist Church in El Segundo.
Benna was a caring mother,
grandmother and sister. Her kindness generosity,
thoughtfulness and genuine love of
people will sorely be missed.
Thank you to all those from the Recreation
and Parks Outreach Program who delivered
meals and visited Benna throughout the
years. You were the highlight
of her day and were all very
special to her.
Benna is preceded in death
by her parents Archie and
Louise Kelly and brother, Mel
Kelly. She is survived by her
daughter’s, Janice Hughes,
Darlene Sears, Victoria O’Shea,
sister-in-law, Carolyn Kelly, grandchildren,
Jayme Hamilton, Julie
Tomlinson, Eli Sears, Kevin
O’Shea, Kelly O’Shea, two great grandchildren,
Kayla Ramsey and Haley Sears and
two great great grandchildren, Westlyn and
McKenna Ramsey.
Services will be held at Douglass Mortuary,
EL Segundo Ca. Date TBD. •
John (Jack) Doukakis
John (Jack) Doukakis was born
in 1927, left this world on August
4th, 2020. He would have been
93 years old on September 5.
He grew up in Pittsburgh with a
large family in a 12-room boarding
house in the shadows of the
steel mills along the Managahela
River. The same river he once
swam the width of on a dare. He
recalled as a child seeing Veteran’s
Day parades featuring Civil War
and WWI Vets.
During WWII, he joined the Merchant
Marines at age 16. When he turned 17, he
enlisted in the Navy because he was proud
to serve his country. Two of his sons served
in the Army and Air Force and a grandson
in the Marines. After the service, Jack joined
the Alleghany county police where he rode
motorcycles and horses as part of a mounted
park patrol.
Opportunity was limited in Pittsburgh and
at the urging of his wife, Dorothy; he sought
employment in California and a better life.
Jack was 36 and Hermosa Beach was the
only department who accepted candidates of
his age. He scored number one on his police
exam and was hired in 1964.
Jack was ambitious and took every opportunity
to improve his life for his wife and
kids. He attended El Camino and then Long
Beach State where he obtained a Master’s
Degree in Criminology. These
achievements allowed him
to climb the ladder and after
multiple promotions, he finally
wound up Chief of Police in
Hermosa Beach.
During those early years of
1964, he took a bus ride through
El Segundo which he observed
“you can shoot a cannon down
Main St. and not hit a thing”;
this quiet town seemed a perfect
place to raise his family. Jack was all
about family and passed those values down
to his sons.
Jack and Dorothy loved to travel. Their
excursions took them from the Mississippi
River to the Great Wall of China and all of
Europe in between. He was an avid poker
player and could hustle his kids in billiards.
A member of St. Anthony’s for 55 years,
where he once won a TV during Casino
Night playing Texas Holdem.
He is survived by his wife, Dorothy,
his four sons; Bob, Rick, Chris and Scott,
nine grandchildren, six great-grandchildren
with one more on the way. He loved
his wife, Dorothy, and October 7th would
have marked their 70th Anniversary.
Jack will be missed; he was all about
God, Family, and Country. Now he is with
the Saints and they will be lucky to be in
his company. •
CEO Amir Ghorbani COO Pete Evenson
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El Segundo High School
Grads Attempt to Conquer
the Rideshare App Arena
By Duane Plank
Are you familiar with the meaning of the
word’s “swoop” or maybe “moovs”?
I was not, either. But as a semi-retired
61-year-old who proudly owns a flip-phone,
not too worried about that fact. Cannot keep
up on all the new lingo that these young whippersnappers
coin, right?
Anyway, 2006 El Segundo High School
graduates Pete Evenson and Amir Ghorbani
and their team recently raised $3.2 million to
help fund their rideshare app company that they
christened Swoop that aims to facilitate the
movement of people and goods from A-to-B.
A quick check on that internet thing delineates
that “swoop” means “to pick someone up”
via vehicle transportation, although alternate
interpretations noted that it meant “to steal your
girl, or beat someone up, or be in the mood to
party.” We will go with option one. Attempts
to Google “moovs” were fruitless, but I will
posit that it is probably trendy techno-lingo?
And one of the Swoopers will explain later
in this story.
Morgan Rojas is a long-time friend of Evenson
and Ghorbani, dating back to their high school
days. She said that years ago, it was evident
that they had the mojo to become successful
entrepreneurs.“Even in high school, Pete and
Amir were highly personable and confident
when it came to pushing creative boundaries,”
she said. “It’s admirable, and not surprising,
that they took a simple idea and re-imagined
it to create something epic.”
Swoop employee Tyler Montz, head of
operations, emailed that “‘I have been with
Swoop since day one (the garage days) wearing
multiple hats, but mainly running all the
operations. Now, I lead a lot of the product
efforts for our new product, moovs, which is
software we are building for group transportation
operators to run their business (so that
is what moovs means). In my eyes, Swoop is
successful because of our deep empathy for
our users and our ability to adapt. For example,
when COVID hit, the entire industry was hit
incredibly hard. Instead of letting it bring
us down, we took the opportunity to build a
product that allows transportation operators to
get back on their feet again.”
Korey Kelly, a customer success manager for
Swoop, emailed that “I think if you look at the
company, we started in 2016 and compared it
to the company Swoop is today, you’ll only
find a few similarities. Those similarities being
values that we have always used as the driving
force behind our decision making, which has
repeatedly guided us in the right direction. When
everything feels like its caving in around you,
much like it does today with the pandemic,
it’s always helped to cling to our tried and
tested mantras of always do the right thing,
treat people the right way, and does this help
small operators grow their business.”
“Those three pillars,” he continued, “have been
the foundation for making a happy customer,
and we all know that happy customers are the
foundation of any successful business. Besides
that, you kind of just figure things out along
the way. Throw in a little luck and a whole
lotta grit, and I think we give ourselves a
rather good shot of being long term success.”
Evenson, the business’ COO, and Ghorbani,
the company’s CEO, have been friends since
their early high school days. Evenson said
that the Ghorbani family has a long history
in the ground transportation industry. As a
mere toddler, Amir has memories of licking
and stuffing promotional envelopes and the
like to promote the family business. Amir and
Pete brainstormed possible entrepreneurial
opportunities in high school, many of which,
Evenson said, were “pretty bad.”
With Ghorbani’s ground and group transportation
background, they researched that concept
and concluded that the tools used to support
and market the concept the industry utilized
were “extremely dated.” “A lot of people
today still managed their businesses with pen
and paper,” Evenson said.
Evenson, who currently lives in Los Angeles
with his fiancée, played basketball during his
days as an El Segundo Eagle and continued to
bounce the basketball at Chapman University
before working for Microsoft, and globe-trotting
to take advantage of job opportunities in China,
Australia, Singapore and Europe.
Back in the U.S. of A, Evenson compares
Swoop to the successful Airbnb platform.
“We put the operators on the website, which
allows the clients to view available vehicles
and connect with operators. We empower
small businesses by giving them more access
to rides and better technology”
To link-up with Swoop, the prospective
customer accesses Swoopapp.com, then enters
in their trip details. Three different options are
provided: a one-way trip, round trip, or booking
by the hour. The customer is presented with
multiple vehicle options, including sedans,
SUV’s, limousines, all the way up to charter
buses. Once the vehicle has been selected and
the customer requests to book a ride, Swoop
See Swoop, page 5