By Joan Garvin

The Christian Science Board of Directors last week elected longtime Los Altos resident M. Victor Westberg, a member of the five-member board, effective Aug. 5.

Westberg will serve as manager of the Christian Science Publishing Society, overseeing the business operations of the Christian Science Monitor and its Web site.

As publisher, he will also manage the church’s religious magazines which include the Christian Science Journal, the weekly Christian Science Sentinel, the Christian Science Quarterly and the Christian Science Herald.

Westberg succeeds John L. Selover, who died Aug. 1 at 72, as publisher of the Monitor, which has seven Pulitzer Prizes. The newspaper was established in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, foundress of the Mother Church, First Church of Christ, Scientist.

Westberg reported to Selover in his recent positions as assistant manager of the Christian Science Publishing Society and president of the Board of Education. Selover left a good program Westberg said and they shared Eddy’s goal “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.”

In addition to his experience working with Selover, Westberg brings his strong business background to the position. After flying combat missions for the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, he founded Pacific Far West Inc., a California-based wholesale distribution company in 1965.

“I know how to run a business and we have very sharp, sharp people to (produce the publications),” Westberg said during a telephone interview from Boston.

The new position requires a move to Boston for Westberg and his wife Tonia; but they plan to keep their longtime Los Altos home in the Country Club area where they have lived since 1963, according to Westberg.