LBCC Dedicates Don Temple Family Charitable Foundation Math Success Center
Math Success Center renamed to celebrate $750,000 gift – one of the largest in LBCC history
During a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Dec. 2, Long Beach City College (LBCC) dedicated and renamed the Math Success Center on the Liberal Arts Campus in celebration of a $750,000 gift from the Don Temple Family Charitable Foundation. The facility is now the Don Temple Family Charitable Foundation Math Success Center.
The donation is one of the largest gifts in the history of the college. The funds will be used for Long Beach College Promise scholarships and to create an endowment for innovative success initiatives in the mathematics department.
“This gift creates a significant endowment to support not only the math department at LBCC, but also to provide scholarships, in perpetuity, to Long Beach students attending LBCC as part of the College Promise program, which the Temple family has been involved with since the very beginning,” said LBCC Superintendent-President Eloy Ortiz Oakley. “We are very grateful to Marlene and Sumer Temple, and for all they do to make Long Beach a better place to live and learn.”
Don Temple was a prominent Long Beach entrepreneur and philanthropist who built the first self-storage facility in the Los Angeles Basin. An aircraft owner and pilot for more than 40 years, he served as a Long Beach Airport Commissioner and was active with many charitable and community organizations. He felt that Long Beach had been very good to him, and he gave back by donating to many local arts and education programs, including programs at both LBCC and California State University, Long Beach. When he died in 2013, the foundation was generously funded, and today his family carries on and expands his legacy of giving.
“The Don Temple Family Charitable Foundation is very proud to be a part of the Long Beach City College expansion,” said foundation president and Don’s widow Marlene Temple. “In Don’s honor, we continue his generous legacy as we dedicate this Math Success Center,” she added. “May its halls ever ring with student accomplishment.”
Don and Marlene’s granddaughter, Sumer Temple, also spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. She is the third-generation operator of the Don Temple companies, a distinguished LBCC alumna, and served as editor-in-chief of the Viking Newspaper.