The Heritage Society of SJSU
Your Generosity Helps the Next Generation
The Heritage Society is a group of dedicated friends who have made the commitment to share their legacy to benefit our current students and future Spartans.
You become part of this distinguished group when you include a gift in your will, trust or other account for San José State.
Become a Member of the Heritage Society
Our Heritage Society honors supporters who have made a planned gift to San José State. Members are recognized in donor communications as well as at our annual lunch and reception.
People who join the Heritage Society make a “second gift” because their example can influence others to make the same commitment.
Supporters Like You
Fernando Zazueta
The child of Mexican farmworkers, Fernando Zazueta attended 16 different schools before graduating from San José High School in 1957—and still remembers early mornings when he had to dig holes deeper than himself for the family outhouse. By the time he graduated from San José State in 1962, he’d studied science and business, hosted parties to help fund his tuition, and met his wife Cecily, ’65 Nursing, who later became a nurse and counselor.
Read moreRuth Yaffe
In 1957, the same year that San José State College celebrated its centennial, Ruth Yaffe was hired as a temporary instructor in the chemistry department. A specialist in radioactive chemistry and pioneering scientist, Yaffe became the first woman tenured professor in chemistry at San José State.
Read moreJim and Louise Dunaway
When Louise Dunaway was a sophomore in college at University of Mount Union, her father suddenly fell ill and her parents informed her that she’d have to drop out. Heartbroken, the aspiring mathematician approached her dean, who worked with her to find a job on campus and apply for an academic scholarship.
Read moreJanice and Ron Dong
Not long after Janice Dong got her teaching credential at San José State, she and her husband Ron began investing in real estate. As teachers in a growing Silicon Valley, they learned how to manage and maintain property as a second source of income.
Read moreSteve and Cheryl Caplan
When Steve and Cheryl Caplan met at San José State in the 1960s, they fell in love, not only with each other, but with the university that brought them together. Seeking a comprehensive way to pay their appreciation forward, the Caplans committed $2 million from their estate to their alma mater.
Read moreProfessor Christian Jochim
Comparative Religious Studies Professor Christian Jochim had been teaching at San José State more than 30 years when he began planning his retirement. He enrolled in the Faculty Early Retirement Program (FERP), which allows tenured faculty members, librarians and counselors to reduce their workload while receiving 50 percent pay for the remaining few years of their career.
Read moreDonn Burch
When Donn Burch attended SJSU in the late 1960s, his college days were not carefree. He had to work his way through school—tuition and books were his financial concern. The businessman wanted to make it easier for current students to receive a great education.
Read moreJoe Thomas
When Joe Thomas attended San José State, it was the first time in his life that he was surrounded by people who shared common interests and goals, and who were motivated to succeed. He says that this passion and commitment were as important as technical skills. Like many other students, Thomas had to work to put himself through school.
Read moreGary and Eileen Ruppel: Education’s Impact on Society
Gary and Eileen Ruppel fell in love while volunteering in San José’s East Side Union High School District as part of an industrial school partnership sponsored by Hewlett Packard, their employer. A career human resources manager, Gary was drawn to Eileen, an HR training and education specialist and former kindergarten and preschool teacher who to this day believes that “the stronger the community is with education, with its infrastructure and with caring for its people, the stronger everyone will be.”
Read moreRichard Sessions: Removing Obstacles For a Better Future
Richard Sessions is a career businessperson, leader of a $400 million marketing organization, entrepreneur and lecturer in San José State’s School of Information Systems and Technology at the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business. Sessions has a learning disability, dyslexia, that makes it difficult to read and process speech—which challenged him as a student and has now informed his teaching style. His late daughter also struggled with dyslexia. As a result, he recognizes and helps San José State students in his classes who confront similar invisible obstacles to learning.
Read moreMark and Kathy Loveless: Rewarding Spartan Service
Mark and Kathy Loveless moved to San Jose from Virginia in the mid-1970s. High school sweethearts who married at 18, Mark had enlisted in the military while Kathy studied medical technology. After his honorable discharge, Mark studied with Kathy in Virginia until she graduated, at which point they loaded up their Plymouth Fury and drove west.
Read moreNicholas Taddeo Jr., ’69
The year that Nicholas Taddeo Jr. graduated from San José State, Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. Though Taddeo, ’69 Math, was too busy working to watch the historic moment in real time, the promise of space exploration kept him inspired throughout his 40-year career in software.
Read moreBenton White and Mary Lou Bloomberg
When Benton White and his wife Mary Lou Bloomberg moved to San José State in 1961 to start a campus ministry, they did not anticipate dedicating more than 30 years to the campus community, which was in a state of change. White served as the nation’s first university ombudsman and founded the university’s Department of Comparative Religious Studies, where he taught for decades.
Read moreMichelle Sandler and Robert Altman: King Library Support
Michelle G. Sandler feels most at home in a library–surrounded by well-organized information accessible to others.
Read moreShelley and Chris Swircek Set Up a Springboard for New Teachers
Shelley and Christopher Swircek share a passion for gymnastics, coaching and teaching. Their planned gift to the Connie L. Lurie College of Education will give future SJSU teachers a leg up.
Read moreAnn and Sheffield Clarke Believe in the Next Generation
Every semester for the past 45 years, Ann and Sheffield Clarke have watched San José State graduates walking in cap and gown down their street following commencement ceremonies. An alumna of SJSU’s graduate program in criminal justice studies and veteran of Santa Clara County’s Probation Department, Ann is a strong believer in the transformative power of higher education.
Read moreJohn and Carmen Aitken Establish Business Scholarship
John and Carmen Aitken’s love story started on the ski slopes at Squaw Valley in 1963. John, ’54 Business Administration, had been a Spartan student leader, active in the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and student body president before being commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy, where he was honorably discharged as a lieutenant five years later.
Read moreCarol Christensen: For the Love of Libraries
Carol Christensen, ’63 Women’s Physical Education, remembers the day she fell in love with San José State’s library. Her sorority required that she dedicate certain hours of every week to studying in what was then the library’s reserved books room.
Read moreJanice Bremis Establishes Nursing Scholarship in Honor of Her “Nursing Family”
During her second year at San José State, Janice Bremis, ’78 Liberal Studies, passed out while walking to class in MacQuarrie Hall. At six feet tall, she weighed only 90 lbs. For three years, Bremis had grown progressively sicker, nearly dying before taking a semester off to get treatment. Bremis and her family felt very fortunate to find Dr. Katherine Halmi of the University of Iowa Hospital, which housed one of the earliest research programs dedicated to eating disorders.
Read moreThomas Layton and the Gift of History
In 1984, San José State Emeritus Professor of Anthropology Thomas Layton was excavating a Mitom Pomo Indian village along the Mendocino coast in northern California when he made a startling discovery: Buried among the sand and rocks were a number of Chinese porcelain objects and shards of green glass.
Read moreConnie Moore Honors SJSU with Transformative Future Bequest
When Connie Moore, ‘77 business administration, was an undergraduate student at San José State, one of her professors encouraged her to apply for an internship at a real estate investment trust (REIT) in San Francisco. That nugget of encouragement would shape the rest of Connie’s career and transform her life.
Read moreSJSU Alumnus and Faculty Member Joseph Di Salvo’s Pursuit of Justice
San José State Justice Studies Lecturer Joseph Di Salvo, ’73 Sociology, ’74 Teaching Credential, ’82 MA Education, landed his first job teaching at the Osborne School in Santa Clara County Office of Education’s Juvenile Hall in 1974.
Read moreBarbara Bekins, Paul Byrd and the Gift of Teaching
For hydrologist Barbara Bekins, ’88 MS Math, the late San José State Math Professor Paul Byrd was more than a role model — he was a great inspiration for us all.
Read morePatricia McKinney’s Gift for Future Elementary Educators
A native of San José, Patricia McKinney, ’60 General Elementary Education, ‘64 MA Education, dedicated her career to teaching elementary school. Upon graduating from San José State, she accepted her first teaching job in the Hillview/Menlo School District, briefly taught at an Air Force base in Germany when her husband was stationed there, and worked for many years in the Laguna Salada Union Elementary school district in Pacifica.
Read moreSJSU Alumni and Former Faculty Carl and Valerie Sermon Establish Endowments for Public Health and Mechanical Engineering
It makes sense that Carl and Valerie Sermon first met while volunteering as tutors at San José State University. Introduced by the university’s first ombudsman and Methodist minister Benton White, the couple shared a love for learning and teaching that has endured more than 50 years.
Read moreWe’re here to help you meet your goals!
Our team would be happy to speak with you in confidence about your giving goals, with no obligation.
Name: Sonia Wright
Title :Sr. Director of Development
Phone: 408-924-1328
Email: sonia.wright@sjsu.edu
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