Longtime Fresno business leader Larry A. Shehadey is contributing $500,000 to a multi-million-dollar project at Fresno Pacific University, President D. Merrill Ewert announced.
"We are proud to name the dining room of our new campus center for Larry A. Shehadey," Ewert said. "His generosity will help generations of students enjoy the benefits of Christian higher education."
Steinert Campus Center will open this fall to provide student dining and recreational facilities as well as a new home for the Student Life Office and a leadership development center. The surrounding grounds will feature an amphitheater for plays and other activities. Construction began on the single-story structure in May of 2002. The $5 million project also includes the renovation of the current dining area, Alumni Hall, into an expanded campus bookshop and coffeeshop/lounge.
Shehadey is the owner of Producers Dairy, one of the largest independent dairies in the Western United States and among the few locally owned dairies in California. The company was founded in 1932 and Shehadey became general manager in1951. Holdings include production facilities in Fresno and the Bar 20 Dairy Farms, with more than 3,000 cows.