Gillespie increases gift to Building on the Vision

A concert organ wasn’t enough for William Gillespie, who recently increased his gift to the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s Building on the Vision Campaign to $5 million.

After contrib- uting $2.5 million to underwrite the C.B. Fisk organ being installed in the center’s Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Gillespie contributed an additional $2.5 million, joining the Circle of Honor as one of the campaign’s most generous supporters.

Gillespie, who works at Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar and lives in Laguna Beach, is a long-standing contributor to the center and several other cultural institutions and nonprofit organizations in the community.

“I was pleased to step forward at this time to make sure that we can live up to the potential now available to us,” he said in a news release. “The buildings are open, and they are magnificent.”

With a goal of $240 million, the center continues to seek funds for its Building on the Vision Campaign, which supports the construction and maintenance costs of the concert hall, Samueli Theater and education center.

— Jessie Brunner