Mikel Pippi, 60; used Rose Parade to help forge ties to Russian city
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Mikel Pippi, 60, an arts producer and coordinator who helped arrange for the 1992 Rose Parade float that recognized “sister city” status between Los Angeles and St. Petersburg, Russia, died Sept. 16 at his home in Carmel Valley, said Kevin Scott Allen, a friend. The cause was a brain aneurysm.
Pippi, who was appointed during Mayor Tom Bradley’s administration to be chairman of a Los Angeles-St. Petersburg cultural affairs committee that oversaw the Rose Parade float, also helped arrange for the parade to be broadcast in Russia.
He later worked in Moscow for Turner Broadcasting System and arranged for screenings of the 1939 film “Gone With the Wind” in Russian movie theaters.
Pippi, who was born in Portland, Ore., graduated from Lewis and Clark College.
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