TODAY: Memorial to celebrate charity of university supporter

Oct. 9, 2009

By Public Affairs Staff

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - Robert V. Fullerton's impact will go well beyond the museum that is named after him.

On Friday, Oct. 9 at 3 p.m., Cal State San Bernardino will say why when it hosts a memorial service in his honor. Fullerton passed away on June 17, 2009, at the age of 91.

The memorial service will take place in the Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum. To RSVP, call (909) 537-3369 or e-mail museumRSVP@csusb.edu.

"Bob Fullerton is not only our art museum's namesake, but his soul seems to reside here," says Eva Kirsch, director for the art museum.

An ardent supporter of education as well as a fan of baseball, Fullerton never knew exactly how the museum would be used to educate. But the Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum has, in fact, become a regular part of the CSUSB curriculum. Courses in museum methods, exhibit design, and museum and archival management are among the ways the 13-year-old facility is being used by professors and students. Even theatre students use the museum exhibits as a regular part of their curriculum to find inspiration for interpretive dance.

Fullerton also wanted to see the museum used as a resource for the community. More than 75,000 people have seen the facility's exhibits, including some 12,000 children. And every summer a group of about 25 elementary school children attend the museum's annual Summer Egyptian Workshop.

The 7,500-square-foot art museum was built in 1996 and has almost 1,200 ceramic, ancient and contemporary art pieces in its permanent holdings, including a prestigious collection of Egyptian antiquities.

"Maybe he wasn't interested in art or successful in teaching me those complicated baseball rules," Kirsch adds, "but he understood very well the role and value of the arts for our community, and certainly lived by this. He was proud of our museum, which exists and flourishes today because of his and his wife's generosity - the bright example that many others followed."

For more information about Cal State San Bernardino, contact the university's Office of Public Affairs at (909) 537-5007 and visit news.csusb.edu.

On Friday at 3 p.m., Cal State San Bernardino will host a memorial service for Robert V. Fullerton, for whom the university's art museum is named. Fullerton passed away on June 17, 2009, at the age of 91.