Bold Thinking

George and Judy Marcus:
Defining the Future

The Marcuses’ story is one of love both from and for San Francisco State. Judy(B.A., ’62) and George Marcus(B.A., ’65) began dating when they attended SF State together in the early 1960s. In 2018, after decades of supporting the University, they became its largest donors with a transformative $25 million gift to the College of Liberal and Creative Arts. The newly created George and Judy Marcus Funds for Excellence in the Liberal Arts endowed four new faculty chairs, supports student and faculty research, and funds program and facilities upgrades in the college.

Like 37% of SF State’s student body, George Marcus was the first generation in his family to graduate from college. In 1971 he founded Marcus and Millichap, a real estate development, investment and brokerage firm that now has offices in 39 states. He is an emeritus member of the CSU Board of Trustees and a current member of the CSU Foundation’s Board of Governors.

Judy Marcus has been a member of the Board of Directors of the SF State Foundation for more than seven years and is a steadfast partner of the University.

Neda Nobari:
Giving Back with Gratitude

Neda Nobari(B.S., ’94) left Iran for the United States at the age of 15 to pursue educational opportunities not available in her home country. As a computer science student at SF State she experienced a sense of freedom and acceptance that opened her vision to life’s possibilities. She is an active member of the SF State Foundation Board and is a lead donor of the BOLD Thinking campaign.

Her generous support to SF State includes leadership gifts to the J. Paul Leonard Library, sustaining support to the Superfest Disability Film Festival through the Neda Nobari Foundation and assistance to the Guardian Scholars program, among others. In 2016, she donated $5 million to create the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at SF State. The center connects Iranian diaspora communities and broadens the field of Iranian studies.

Chris Larsen and Luna Lam:
Financial and Philanthropic Innovators

Chris Larsen(B.S., ’84) is internationally respected as an iconoclastic financial leader. Crediting his SF State education as a key component in his success, he and his wife, Lyna Lam, have been major contributors to the University and the BOLD Thinking campaign.

In conjunction with Rippleworks, a nonprofit foundation which Chris co-founded, the Lam-Larsens made a historic gift in 2018/19 to the University’s College of Business, establishing the $25 million Chris Larsen and Lyna Lam Funds for the College of Business. Intended to support the college’s vision of becoming one of the best public urban business schools in the country, the Lam-Larsen funds endow two new chairs and fund five new initiatives. The gift was largely made with XRP digital assets — the first donation of its kind in SF State’s history.

This groundbreaking donation will expand the College of Business’s position as an innovative, distinctively diverse and industry-relevant epicenter of business education on the West Coast. Many of the new initiatives at the College of Business will impact the entire University through including students from all SF State colleges to collaborate on entrepreneurial projects.

“Being here in San Francisco at the center of the fintech, tech and biotech industries gives SF State’s students amazing career opportunities. These funds are focused on guiding these students in becoming innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders in these fields, enabling them to become changemakers in business and their communities,” says Chris. The Lam-Larsens are also generous donors to the Graduate College of Education. In 2017, they established the Larsen/Lam Family Educator Preparation Collaborative, which strategically supports recruitment, admission and success of future educators. This collaborative addresses the critical need to increase diversity amongst California’s qualified public school teachers, particularly in the SF Bay Area.

Juanita TamayoLott (B.A., ’70) was one of the original 1968 SF State student strikers and a 1969 planning committee member for the establishment of SF State’s College of Ethnic Studies. She is nationally known as an author and leader in the federal statistical system, with respect to racial and ethnic categories, as well as in Filipino American and Asian American studies.

Juanita has donated over $60,000 to the BOLD Thinking campaign, including a generous gift of $15,000 to endow a scholarship in the name of the first dean of the College of Ethnic Studies, the James Akira Hirabayashi Scholarship. “I want to encourage students to aspire to public service/public policy careers and get out of the ivory tower into the world off campus — not just bold thinking but courageous action!”

Kimberly Gomez and her mother migrated to the U.S. from Honduras when Kimberly was 6. She is now a DACA recipient and studying health education at SF State. As a Willie L. Brown, Jr. Fellow, she interned for Supervisor Malia Cohen where she had the opportunity to meet home health care workers who were advocating for higher wages in their field. “I really listened to what they were asking for because that used to be my mother. As a caregiver she didn’t get paid that much either, and had to think about us surviving. After meeting them, our office started writing an ordinance for higher wages for caregivers.”

In fall 2018, the College of Business launched the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fellows program thanks to an initial $37,500 grant from MUFG Union Bank, N.A. Each year, a cohort of 25 students are offered training, expert coaching, participation in a pitch competition and support in developing their entrepreneurial skills and launching a startup. MUFG Union Bank, N.A. has also generously committed $37,500 for the 2019/2020 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fellows cohort.