Early UC Santa Barbara Alumnus and Longtime Trustee Recalls 1940’s Campus Life

It was the early 1940’s, and what would soon become UC Santa Barbara was still a 14-acre Riviera campus called Santa Barbara State College. First enrolling in 1942, Schechter earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1947 — one of 122 graduates that spring — just three years after the school was incorporated into the University of California system.

Fast forward 56 years and Schechter, 89, remains actively involved. He is a lifetime member of the Alumni Association (and former member of its board of directors), and, since 1996, a trustee of the UC Santa Barbara Foundation. As a pledge of their mutual belief in and devotion to the university, Schechter and his wife of 57 years, Hope, included the campus in their estate plans: 80 percent of their money will be left to UCSB, earmarked for underprivileged students.

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