{"id":156990,"date":"2026-01-30T20:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/156990\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T20:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:52:08","slug":"ed-kashian-named-2026-leon-s-peters-award-recipient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/156990\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Kashian Named 2026 Leon S. Peters Award Recipient"},"content":{"rendered":"

At age 96, Ed Kashian still runs the day-to-day operations as CEO of his land development company.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is 100% active in most of the decisions being made here as a group. He\u2019s at work every day, in most meetings, and still deciding what the future looks like,\u201d said Tracy Kashian, spokesperson for Lance-Kashian & Company and Kashian\u2019s daughter-in-law.<\/p>\n

He keeps up with the times, Tracy Kashian said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s also very tech savvy. He has the newest iPhone and downloads apps,\u201d she said. \u201cHe reads so much, knows what\u2019s coming, and can forecast for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed Kashian has been one of Fresno\u2019s top developers for more than 60 years. He is now receiving one of the area\u2019s most prestigious honors.<\/p>\n

The Fresno Chamber of Commerce announced Wednesday that Kashian is the 2026 recipient of the 42nd annual Leon S. Peters Award during a news conference outside the Lance-Kashian office in north Fresno.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s long overdue. He certainly would have qualified for this award many years ago. But we\u2019re here today, and we\u2019re happy to be here,\u201d chamber President\/CEO Scott Miller said.<\/p>\n

The chamber will hold a ceremony to honor Kashian on March 13 at Pardini\u2019s Catering and Banquets. The luncheon will also honor several other award winners.<\/p>\n

Kashian \u2018One of the Best Listeners\u2019<\/p>\n

Ed Kashian did not speak at the ceremony but did pose for photographs with the media.<\/p>\n

Retired Judge Robert Oliver, a 2002 Peters Award recipient<\/a>, called Kashian \u201cone of the best listeners I\u2019ve ever run across.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t mean he was agreeing, but he was listening to what you were saying so he could then act on that,\u201d Oliver said. \u201cEvery time I\u2019ve had the opportunity to interact with Ed Kashian, I learned something. I learned from someone who thinks into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tracy Kashian fought back tears as she spoke about her father-in-law and their special relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is incredibly funny and so generous. He is the best person to go to dinner with because he will order everything on the menu,\u201d Tracy Kashian said. \u201cThere\u2019s something about someone who has a really hard shell on the outside. I think they\u2019re really soft on the inside. So yes, the honor means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Developing Fresno<\/p>\n

Kashian founded Lance-Kashian & Co. in 1964. He later bought out partner Theodore Lance but kept the company name.<\/p>\n

Some of his most visible projects include the River Park shopping center, Campus Pointe at Fresno State, and the recently opened Fancher Creek development.<\/p>\n

He also helped develop the first Costco in Fresno, located on West Shaw Avenue.<\/p>\n

Philanthropy has also been an important part of Kashian\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Kashian served on the Community Medical Center board in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work was important to him because he believes meeting the health care needs of our most vulnerable right here at home, and caring for the least among us, is a responsibility we all share,\u201d Tracy Kashian said.<\/p>\n

He also helped bring the UCSF medical campus to downtown Fresno and rallied for the founding of UC Merced.<\/p>\n

He and his wife, Jeanne, donated $5 million to UC Merced\u2019s new Medical Education Building that is scheduled to open this fall. In 2024, he was awarded the UC Merced Chancellor\u2019s Medal, the university\u2019s highest honor.<\/p>\n

Animals are another passion of Kashian\u2019s, and he helped secure land for the city\u2019s animal shelter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s never given up on supporting the less fortunate, helping local nonprofits, and building our city,\u201d Tracy Kashian said.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Fresno Chamber of Commerce announces\u00a0 Ed Kashian (center) as the recipient of the 2026 Leon S. Peters Award, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (GV Wire\/David Taub)
\nOther Award Recipients<\/p>\n

The chamber announced other award winners:<\/p>\n

Harold Zinkin Entrepreneur of the Year Award: Liz McIlvaine, Total Concepts;
\nCommunity Champion of the Year Award: California Teaching Fellows Foundation;
\nStudent Entrepreneur of the Year Award: Jasmine Ruiz, Cry Baby Cookies;
\nChild-Friendly Business of the Year: Art of Comfort.<\/p>\n

About the Leon S. Peters Award<\/p>\n

The award, which was was created in 1984, was established to preserve the memory and legacy of Leon S. Peters and to honor Central Valley leaders who demonstrate in their personal and business life the values, ethics and character exemplified by Peters.<\/p>\n

Peters manufactured a wine grape crusher and seamless stainless steel tanks that revolutionized wine production.. He gave back to his community in many ways, serving in leadership capacities and donating millions of dollars to a variety of causes through the Leon S. Peters Foundation. He died in 1983.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At age 96, Ed Kashian still runs the day-to-day operations as CEO of his land development company. \u201cHe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-156990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}