Newport Residents Give $200K to Santa Ana College

The Santa Ana College Foundation announced a $200,000 gift this month from Newport Beach residents Allan and Sandy Fainbarg as the kick-off to its Centennial Scholarship Campaign.

The campaign celebrates the college’s 100th anniversary in 2015 and was created to help build new scholarship endowments and increase support for scholarships for deserving and high-need students, college officials said in a released statement. 

Allan Fainbarg, a 1940 graduate of Santa Ana College, moved to Santa Ana as a young child when his parents relocated to Southern California from Detroit.

“I was a ‘C’ student in high school. I could not have gotten into any other school,” Allan Fainbarg said in a released statement.

After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he graduated from the University of Southern California and later opened the Santa Ana Army & Navy Store in downtown Santa Ana. His retail venture became the basis of a retail and real estate empire that grew to include 24 Wild West Stores located throughout California. In 1981, he sold the chain to General Mills.

“Most of my customers were Latino, and I knew they needed financial help to stay in school," Allan Fainbarg said. "They helped me make my living and I wanted to help them get an education so that they could have better lives."

The Fainbargs have provided financial support to Santa Ana College for more than 20 years. The couple’s donations to the college include a $100,000 scholarship.

“Mr. Fainbarg’s financial generosity has made it possible for many students to attend Santa Ana College and to transfer to other institutions of higher education,” said Christina Romero, director of the SAC Foundation. 

To get more information about the Centennial Scholarship Campaign, call 714- 564-6091 or email foundation@sac.edu.