Editor’s note: The Signal will profile each of the nominees for Santa Clarita Valley Man and Woman of the Year over the next few weeks.

Bob Benjamin was born in Burbank in 1949 and attended school in the San Fernando Valley, including Pierce College and California State University, Northridge. He graduated with a degree in Finance and Accounting.

Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1969, he spent one year at Fort Hood, Texas and one year in Vietnam.

Benjamin married Diane in 1978 and moved to the Santa Clarita Valley the same year.

He worked in the banking industry for eight years and progressed to vice president and training director for United California Bank with a short stay at Union Bank before joining his family’s Aircraft Parts business.

In 1990, the family business was split and Western Airparts Corporation was born.

Bob’s family includes two children, Robert and Katy, and three grandchildren, Mackenzie, 20, Chase, 8, and Wyatt, 6. All reside in the SCV.

Bob and Diane have been committed to ‘giving back’ to the community and organizations that provide service and direction to any SCV citizen in need.

Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital has been Bob’s primary focus since 1991 when his son’s life was saved by the Emergency Room doctors and trauma team.

Benjamin has been nominated for SCV Man of the Year by the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Health Foundation.

The 2013 SCV Man and Woman of the Year banquet will be held Friday, May 3 at the Hyatt Regency Valencia.

For more information, or tickets to the event, contact Myrna Condie or Laura Chavez at 661-257-2900.