The Pasadena City College Foundation has received a gift of $4 million – the largest single donation in the college’s 87-year history – from the Westerbeck Family Trust, PCC President Dr. Mark Rocha announced Tuesday.
The gift, which will be used to establish the Robert Westerbeck Scholarship Endowment, is also to be believed one of the largest single bequests to a community college.
“The extraordinary generosity of alumnus Robert Westerbeck and his wife Adrienne will create a permanent endowment for student scholarships and help to insure access to quality public higher education for generations of students to come,” Rocha said.
Dr. Lisa Sugimoto, vice president of college advancement, estimates that the endowment gift could provide more than 200 new full scholarships annually.
“The impact of the Westerbeck Endowment on student access and success is incalculable,” Dr. Sugimoto added.
Westerbeck (known to his friends as Bob) attended Pasadena Junior College (PJC) from 1932 through 1936, graduating from both PJC High School and the college.
The story of Westerbeck and his wife, Adrienne, is rooted in the PCC tradition of a fervent belief in education as the way to realize the American Dream. Westerbeck, who died in 2006, often credited his success to the education he received at PCC. Adrienne, who died last year at the age of 103, taught organ and piano at PCC until her retirement in 1971.
For both, PCC was part of a lifetime of service to their community.
After Westerbeck graduated from PJC, he worked for Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank and later for Perkin-Elmer Corporation, another engineering firm then located in Pasadena. Westerbeck was a very tall, distinguished and friendly man with many interests. He played varsity basketball while at PJC and excelled in nearly every sport he attempted, including archery, golf, and cycling. His interests also included music, which led him to meet the love of his life, Adrienne.
In addition to teaching music at PCC, Adrienne gave private piano and organ lessons at Waltrip’s Music Company in Altadena and from her home. Westerbeck met Adrienne when he first took lessons from her, leading to a lifelong romance. The two were married for nearly 50 years until Bob’s passing in 2006.
Adrienne attended the University of Southern California and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music, as well as a master’s degree in education. After Westerbeck’s passing, Adrienne continued to play the organ on Sundays and Wednesdays at the Christian Science Church in Los Feliz. She passed away on April 3, 2010, just shy of her 104thbirthday.
The Westerbeck Family Trust is managed by Trustee Hermina Allen, who will participate in a ceremony and press conference announcing the gift on May 3 at 10:30 a.m., on the steps of the main entrance to PCC’s Horace Mann Building (C building). Allen will present a symbolic check to the college at this event.
“I am pleased to be able to implement the bequest of Bob and Adrienne Westerbeck,” Allen said. “There is nothing they wanted more than to give back what Pasadena City College gave them. I know they would be delighted to know that their legacy will be that hundreds more students will have the opportunity for the PCC education that they were so grateful for.”
Sugimoto, added: “The Robert Westerbeck Scholarship Endowment will provide much needed relief to the students at Pasadena City College in these challenging economic times.”
A provision of the scholarship agreement will allow funds to be matched by the Bernard Osher Scholarship, which will increase the total endowment for student scholarships.
“Thanks to the Westerbeck family and the steadfast support of our entire Foundation and community, PCC has become one of the leading public community colleges in the nation for student access to higher education,” Rocha added.
Rocha also announced plans to recognize the Westerbecks through the college’s Center for the Arts, which is now under construction and due to open in October 2012. “We will make sure that when you enter our beautiful new Center for the Arts, you will be able to hear ‘Adrienne’s piano’ as a new generation of music students take their lessons.”
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