Edie Wasserman appreciated as 'powerhouse'

Edie Wasserman was appreciated as ''a giant for good'' Friday evening throughout a memorial service at UCLA's Royce Hall. The diverse selection of loudspeakers, varying from her grandchildren to former Leader Bill Clinton and Secretary of Condition Hillary Clinton, reflected the breadth of her roles because the Wasserman family matriarch, like a prime mover in showbiz philanthropy as well as in nation-wide politics. Loudspeakers colored an image of Wasserman, who died in August at 95, like a devoted grandmother and great-grandmother who had been never shy about discussing her blunt opinions on a subject. Until her last days, she was involved in her many passions: family, politics, fundraiser for that Film and tv Fund and meeting the readers of Wasserman Foundation scholarship grants at UCLA along with other schools. ''My grandmother was the frickin' Energizer Bunny,'' daughter Carol Ann Leif told the aud as she reeled off a listing of a number of Edie's favorite things (included in this Haagen-Dazs, ''Murder, She Wrote'' reruns, Vin Scully, Nate 'n Al's, ''It Happened One Night''). Longtime family friend Uri Herscher, founding father of the Skirball Cultural Center, noted that her dedication to giving and repair guarantees that her legacy will endure far beyond her very own family. ''Edie would be a giant permanently, and the like energy doesn't vanish,'' Herscher stated. Jamie Lee Curtis remembered the unyielding love and support and she or he and her sister Kelly received from godparents Lew and Edie. Being an adult, Curtis marveled in the influence they exerted, from Lew Wasserman's role as MCA/Universal mogul to Edie's work like a fundraising event. ''They transformed the path of e-commerce and also the lives of those who relied onto it,'' Curtis stated. ''She trained me the energy of energy.'' House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) remembered how Edie could leave her brief phone messages a la: ''You go, girl.'' Hillary Clinton referred to the petite dynamo as ''spunky and gritty and elegant and gracious all simultaneously.'' And she or he got the greatest laugh from the evening in revealing the special bond she distributed to the lady who had been a hefty supporter from the Clinton family's political campaigns. ''She were built with a fascination in speaking beside me about how exactly both of us married males that nobody thought would go anywhere,'' she stated, as Bill Clinton was alongside her on stage. ''She'd say, 'He was an usher in a cinema after i found him. And yours was from the place nobody'd ever encountered.A '' Bill Clinton also noted Edie's wry spontaneity, remembering time she brought him to his table in a fundraising event she put for his 1996 reelection campaign. After seating him alongside Rupert Murdoch, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, Edie joked: '' 'I'm subjecting you to definitely Australia, and think about this your summary of Judeo-Scientology culture' ,'' he remembered. ''She didn't want me to consider being Leader too seriously.'' Other loudspeakers incorporated grand son Casey Wasserman, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and DreamWorks Animation's Jeffrey Katzenberg. Contact Cynthia Littleton at cynthia.littleton@variety.com