Bakersfield College has received a gift of $13.7 million, the single largest donation from an individual to any community college, from Dr. Norman Levan, 95, a local dermatologist who still sees patients once a week. Most of his gift will endow scholarships, including living expenses, for about 250 students at the southern California college each year.
The previous record for a private, non-corporate donation to a single community college was reported to be the $10 million Eli and Edyth Broad gave in 2008 to support arts programming at Santa Monica Community College. That same year, the Bernard Osher Foundation gave $50 million for financial aid for books, supplies, tools and uniforms across the California community college system, the largest donation to such a system.
Levan, a widower with no children, gave $5.7 million to Bakersfield College in 2006. He did not attend the community college, but he was a friend of a former college president, John Collins.
