Claremont McKenna College life trustee
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Donald R. Wheeler, 85, the former chairman of the board of Claremont Men’s College and a life trustee of the school now known as Claremont McKenna College, died Jan. 9 at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach after a heart attack, the college announced.
Wheeler, a prominent local real estate developer and investor, was born June 16, 1922, in Pomona to a family of Claremont pioneers.
After graduating from Claremont High School, he attended Pomona College, but his education was interrupted by World War II. He served in the Army Air Forces in the South Pacific. Toward the end of the war, he completed his college degree at Pomona.
Wheeler was elected to the CMC board of trustees in 1971, served as chairman from 1976 to 1979 and was elected a life trustee in 1995. He began his tenure as chairman the same year the college implemented a plan to become coeducational.
Wheeler served as chairman of the Bank of Industry from 1980 to 1990 and was active on numerous civic boards, including those of the local American Red Cross, Pomona Valley Community Hospital and the Claremont United Church of Christ.
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