Few names are as synonymous with generosity toward Santa Barbara City College as “Luria.” The contributions of the Luria family to SBCC — which span over five decades — have been consistent and widespread. Almost every area on campus has benefited from the family’s generosity.
Eli Luria is the namesake for the Library and Learning Resource Center, which his wife Lee and daughter Kandy Luria-Budgor continued to support after his death. The impact of the Luria family’s generosity is on display across the SBCC campus and in its daily operations, from the Luria Library and the conference and press center overlooking the stadium, to funding for student support programs such as Running Start and the prestigious President’s Scholarship.
“Supporting the College has been very gratifying for me for several reasons. One of these is to see students who receive scholarships do so well, and another reason is to see the campus grow and improve in a concrete way… this is so beneficial for so many different kinds of people, and that is the most rewarding thing of all. I also find serving as Trustee and on the Foundation Board very enjoyable. It’s creative. It’s inspiring. It’s association with people that I like and admire. We respect each other. Over the years I feel we’ve accomplished a lot.” – Eli Luria
After several years of involvement with SBCC as an Adult Ed student and supporter, Eli served as co-chair with Gertrude Calden of the successful $3.8M bond campaign to purchase SBCC’s West Campus property in 1972.
In 1973, SBCC President Glenn Gooder, Sam Wake and Eli Luria proposed establishing the nonprofit SBCC Foundation to help raise funds for Adult Education. The Foundation was officially incorporated in 1976. Eli made the first gift to the for Adult Ed facilities improvements in the amount of $25,000. He was a board member of the new foundation, and served as its second president from 1978 to 1980.
