Pepperdine University, Los Angeles County, California
George Pepperdine was born to parents who had undergone a religious conversion during a tent revival near Parson’s Kansas. He was accordingly raised in the Church of Christ, and was a devout Christian in his own right. Pepperdine studied business at Parsons Business College, a school which went bankrupt in 1973 and closed. Pepperdine began his career as a businessman at the age of 23, when he and a partner named Don Abnor Davis founded the Western Auto Supply Company.
Western Auto began as a mail order company selling parts for the rapidly growing automobile market. It grew with increasing speed; eventually the company operated 1,200 stores across the United States, and franchised another 4,000 smaller stores which featured its products. It developed its own product lines, including Western Flyer bicycles and Citation appliances, though it did not manufacture them, having them built by reputable manufacturers such as Frigidaire in the case of the appliances.
In 1930 Pepperdine’s wife died of parrot fever, contracted when she handled a pair of birds while on a vacation trip in South America. After her death Pepperdine began to grow away from the business, in part because his wife, Lena, had been an active partner in it, involved in nearly all of the decisions which had led to its success. In 1939 he decided to sell his portion of the business and retire to a life of philanthropy.
Pepperdine gave away money to build several YMCAs and Boy’s Clubs in southern California and supported the Boy Scouts by acquiring properties and donating them for the organization’s use. He remarried and his second wife joined him in charitable works. In 1937, in response to solicitations from his friend Hugh Tiner, he began the work which led to the organization and chartering of the southern California university which bears his name, establishing it as a Christian school.
Pepperdine University was opened as Pepperdine College in September 1937, with George Pepperdine speaking to the first class of students. “We want to present to you, in teaching and example, the Christian way of life,” he said. “We do not compel you to accept it,” he continued, “You are free to make your own choice, but we want you to know what it is.” He remained heavily involved with the school and its development for the rest of his life, dying in 1962.