The Heart Was Ripped Out

A Lifetime of Service, a Moment of Collective Loss

Chris Holden has represented the Altadena and Pasadena communities for more than 30 years — as a Pasadena Mayor, City Councilman, and California State Assemblyman. His career has been defined by service and connection to the people who call this region home. He considers himself “lucky” not to have lost his own house in the fire. But that doesn’t mean he escaped its impact.

“If you could rip the heart out of a human body,” Chris reflects, “and it still be alive, that’s how it feels. That which gave it life, in one evening, was decimated.” The Eaton Fire claimed more than structures. It fractured routines and erased spaces where community life unfolded naturally. The kind of places where people gathered not because they had to, but because they wanted to.

Grief Without Distance

For many leaders, distance can create insulation. For Chris, there was none. The fire affected people he had known for decades. Families he had worked with. Neighbors he greeted at local events. The devastation showed up in conversations, in calls, and in quiet moments when the full weight of what was lost surfaced unexpectedly.

“When I was describing to someone else that night,” he says. “I felt the emotions come up and the tears come out.” Grief, for Chris, isn’t separate from leadership. It’s part of it.

Still Showing Up

Today, Chris serves as CEO of Perfected’s LA Fire Justice office — continuing a lifetime commitment to advocacy and accountability, but through a different lens. The work is about listening first. About understanding that recovery takes time, and justice doesn’t move on a fixed schedule. For survivors, progress is measured not just in rebuilt homes, but in whether they feel seen and supported.

“It’s a group of people, lawyers included,” Chris says, “that want to make sure there’s justice for the people who were impacted, when they should never have had to have been in this situation.” That philosophy is at the core of Perfected’s mission — and of Chris’s approach to leadership.

What Remains

Despite everything that was taken by the Eaton Fire, Chris believes deeply in what remains. Community. Memory. Responsibility to one another.

While buildings can be rebuilt, trust and connection take patience. Chris continues to serve because he knows recovery doesn’t end when headlines fade — and because communities deserve leaders who stay long after the cameras move on.

“On days when you can take in just what kind of devastation ripped through the community,” he says. “It is a reminder that this isn’t going to leave the memory anytime soon.”