The Lundquists’ gift was made in memory of their friend, Leonard Aube, former executive director of the Annenberg Foundation. Aube, who died in 2015, was the “driving force” behind the creation of AltaSea, according to the nonprofit.
Southern California philanthropists Richard and Melanie Lundquist announced Thursday, Nov. 22, that they provided $5 million to AltaSea, a nonprofit organization that operates at the Port of Los Angeles, so it can conduct ocean-sustainability programs.
The Lundquists’ gift was made in memory of their friend, Leonard Aube, former executive director of the Annenberg Foundation. Aube, who died in 2015, was the “driving force” behind the creation of AltaSea, according to the nonprofit.
“The entire AltaSea team is honored and humbled to follow in the footsteps of Len Aube as we work to bring the vision to reality,” AltaSea CEO Tim McOsker said.
AltaSea’s business center, located at City Dock No. 1 in the Port, is scheduled to be completed next year. The site will make use of converted warehouses as well as newly constructed buildings to house research facilities and a science center, and will provide connections to entrepreneurial start- ups.
AltaSea began with a grant from the Annenberg Foundation to conduct a visioning study for the new home of the Southern California Marine Institute, which will be relocated from its Terminal Island headquarters. That led to a 50- year lease with the city of Los Angeles, a $46 million grant from the Los Angeles Harbor Department and the creation of AltaSea in 2014.
In February 2015, just before Aube died, AltaSea supporters and friends of Aube gathered at AltaSea to celebrate the renaming of a street as “Leonard Aube Way,” the avenue that leads to AltaSea.
“We lost Len way too soon. When he showed me the plans on paper for AltaSea, he made them jump off the page,” Richard Lundquist said. “He had an inexplicable passion for what AltaSea could be for our young people, for entrepreneurs interested in the blue economy and most importantly for helping find solutions to combat climate change.”