THE NEWS DESK
The News Desk is a collection of news, notes and breaking items affecting the Fredericksburg community.
Marine Museum gets $12 million
By RUSTY DENNEN
The Marine Corps Heritage Foundation has gotten a major boost toward completion of the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
The foundation, which oversees the museum off Interstate 95 in Triangle, announced Tuesday that it had received its biggest individual donation ever.
The $12 million gift came from the Timothy T. Day Foundation. Timothy Day, chairman and chief executive officer of Bar–S Foods in Arizona, is a former Marine.
The donation will fund the museum’s final gallery, scheduled to open in 2017, and construction of an overlook in Day’s name to be located in Semper Fidelis Memorial Park adjacent to the museum.
The Marine Corps Heritage Foundation is raising $64 million to complete the Marine Corps Heritage Center, which includes the museum.
When the Heritage Foundation announced it was seeking donations to construct exhibits in the museum to honor those Marines who served since the end of the Vietnam War, “Tim Day stepped up to help make sure their stories are told,” Lt. Gen. Robert R. Blackman Jr., president of the foundation, said in a press release.
He said the gallery would also recognize Marines serving in Beirut, Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Marine Corps Heritage Foundation is also raising money to produce a film on Marine Corps history for the museum’s new large-screen theater, complete the Heritage Center Parkway and install a “green” roof on the museum.
Day received the foundation’s John A. Lejeune Recognition for Exemplary Leadership Award this spring. It recognizes individual honor, courage and commitment. Day said at that time he would be giving the gift to the foundation.
Through the Timothy T. Day Foundation, Day provides additional support to Marines through two ongoing fellowships at Harvard Business School. He sponsors The Marine Corps Entrepreneur Fellowship, started in 2005, to provide financial support to distinguished MBA students who have demonstrated leadership as Marine officers. Day last year launched the Marine Corps Executive Education Fellowship. It offers opportunities for promising Marine career officers to attend Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
Permalink: http://news.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk/2012/06/19/marine-museum-gets-12-million/
