FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leah Kolt
Public Affairs Director
(805) 756-1511
Cal Poly to Dedicate ‘Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre’ May 7
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Entrepreneur, Cal Poly alumnus and San Diego
Chargers
owner Alex Spanos and his wife, Faye, will be honored at a special
ceremony today at 2 p.m. in the newly-renamed Alex and Faye Spanos
Theatre at Cal Poly.
The couple, longtime supporters of Cal Poly, donated $1.5 million in
2003 to help remodel the university’s H.P. Davidson Music Center
and the
40-year-old Cal Poly Theatre, and another $100,000 to endow a
scholarship named after legendary music professor and Mustang Band
leader Harold P. Davidson and his wife, Rosalie, an accompanist who
arranged music for campus choral groups.
Alex and Faye Spanos, who live in Stockton, will be guests of honor at
the theatre dedication ceremony, which will include remarks by Cal Poly
President Warren J. Baker, College of Liberal Arts Dean Harry
Hellenbrand, longtime music professor and Music Department Chair Clifton
Swanson. Alex Spanos is also scheduled to speak, and the program will
include a musical tribute by the Cal Poly Mustang Band and a tap dance
performance by students plus a videotape of Alex Spanos and Bob Hope tap
dancing.
“We are honored to recognize alumnus Alex and his wife, Faye, for
their
extraordinary generosity to the university’s Music and Theatre and
Dance
departments,” said Baker. “Their gift is a testament to the
spirit and
history of a great department. Alex and Faye are to be congratulated for
a lifetime of philanthropy and humanitarian achievements.”
About Alex Spanos
Spanos began his college career in 1941 in aeronautical engineering at
Cal Poly. Despite his technical studies, Spanos was also interested in
the arts and became the drum major of the Cal Poly Marching Band. He
left Cal Poly to join the armed forces during World War II. Today,
Spanos is recognized as one of the nation’s most dynamic business
leaders. He is credited with transforming a modest business venture into
a corporate giant that is ranked at the top of the national housing
industry. As chairman and owner of A.G. Spanos Cos. one of the few
family-owned Fortune 400 companies, he presides over 10 companies with
more than 500 employees. The Spanos organization has built more than
100,000 apartment units and owns more than 3 million square feet of
commercial property in 18 states.
In 1984, Spanos assumed ownership of the San Diego Chargers, realizing
a
lifelong dream. Less well known is the fact that Spanos realized another
lifelong dream by traveling the world -- golfing and singing and tap
dancing -- with entertainer Bob Hope. Spanos met Bob Hope by chance in
1968 while playing golf in Palm Springs. “From then on, not a week
went
by in 35 years when Bob and I weren’t together,” Spanos said.
About the Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre and the Davidson Music
Center
The couple’s gift will complete the renovation of the lobby and
will
help the university extend the current Davidson Music Center into a
complex that can more effectively serve a wide range of programs,
including a music program that serves 1,000 students a year and an
expanding theatre and dance program.
The newly renamed Alex and Faye Spanos Theatre seats 500 and is the main
stage for most student theatre, music and dance productions. When
completed in 1961, the facility served as both a general auditorium and
a large classroom. Since 1985, with the creation of Cal Poly Arts, the
number of events held in the Theatre has tripled. The venue is now home
to three academic courses and an average of 50 annual theatrical
productions, averaging about 85,000 visits a year.
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