Ceremony marks new building name on campus
By: SAC PR
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Tag: Archived
SAN ANTONIO, TX (June 7, 2012) – San Antonio College administrators and the
Alamo Colleges Board of Trustees today officially recognized the many
contributions of Susan R. and Jesse H. Oppenheimer with the renaming of the Academic Instruction Center in their
honor.
“We have a classy and impressive building named for a classy
and impressive lady and her husband,”
said Dr. Robert Zeigler, president of San Antonio College.
Susan Oppenheimer was
the first woman elected to the Alamo Community College District Board. She
served on the board from 1970 to 1988 and was a past president. As a trustee, she was instrumental in the
establishment of the Alamo Colleges Foundation. A graduate of Wellesley
College, she worked as a chemist, teacher and lecturer. A volunteer advocate for children and
families, Mrs. Oppenheimer worked with Planned Parenthood, the United Way and
the Jewish Federation.
Mrs. Oppenheimer was accompanied by her son David Oppenheimer, and wife,
Mary. When asked how she began with the
Alamo Colleges, Mrs. Oppenheimer said that after she left teaching she was “looking for something to do, and a friend
suggested that she run for the board of trustees.”
Jesse Oppenheimer, a prominent San Antonio attorney and
philanthropist, died in 2009. He was a third-generation Texan, practiced law for 63 years and in 1969 founded his own law firm Oppenheimer, Blend,
Harrison & Tate. He was a graduate of
Harvard and a trustee of the Woodrow Wilson International
Center of Scholars in Washington.
Dr. Bruce Leslie, Alamo Colleges Chancellor, told the SAC
audience that the Board of Trustees felt the
building previously named from the Oppenheimers did not well reflect their generous contributions. That
building on Main Avenue is now called Services, Trade & Industry Center.
“Because of your support what started as a few television
courses has become the many new online courses,” Dr. Zeigler said of Mrs.
Oppenheimer’s work on behalf of SAC
students.
The Susan R. and Jesse H. Oppenheimer Academic Center is on
the south end of the SAC campus at W. Evergreen and Lewis. It houses the Business, Foreign Languages/Philosophy, Continuing
Education Departments, and the Murgia Learning Institute. The building will be abbreviated to OC for student schedules.
Pictured: (from left) Dr. Robert Zeigler, Mary Oppenheimer, Susan Oppenheimer, David Oppenheimer, and Dr. Bruce Leslie.
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