David Tillman, the chief executive of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, is desperate to put a human face on his decision to close down the Fund’s long-term nursing home and hospital.
That might explain why, when one of his longest-serving employees lost a son to cancer, he and his vice president for human resources, Jan Zlotowicz, showed up, uninvited, to the funeral.
Nothing went as Dr. Tillman might have hoped. The ceremony, held at the chapel at Forest Lawn last Wednesday, was a colossally sad occasion – Joel Morales Jr. was just 29 when he lost his battle with lymphoma.
Joel’s mother Juana, who has worked at the MPTF nursing home for more than 25 years, was heartened to see several co-workers among the hundred or so mourners.
But she was decidedly unhappy to see her boss, Dr. Tillman. And, according to those present, she became extremely upset when she saw what he did.
On the way into the service, Dr. Tillman approached a group of women and reached out his hand to offer his condolences to the bereaved mother. Except, instead of Juana Morales, he reached out to one of her friends, Yolanda Granados, by mistake.
“Here she is, a staff member for more than 25 years, and he has his human resources director with him, and he can’t even recognize her,” one attendee told me. “It was a terrible form of disrespect – almost a form of funeral crashing.”
Whoops.
As usual, I’d be more than happy to hear Dr. Tillman’s side of the story. All he has to do is end his radio silence with TheWrap and pick up the phone.
