Mysterious alumnus donor gifts $9.44M to Orange Coast College arts programs

A student visits the Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion at Orange Coast College in 2023. Orange Coast College’s visual and performing arts program will soon get a transformative boost, after officials announced the recent gift of $9.44 million — the largest donation ever received in the community college’s 77-year history. Orange Coast College dance students perform at a 2022 Honors Night in the school’s Robert B. Moore Theatre. Paul Frank, a cartoonist-turned designer who created the iconic Julius the Monkey character, attended Orange Coast College in the 1990s and returned in 2015 as an instructor. Other arts-forward alumni include actress Diane Keaton, who reportedly attended one semester taking acting lessons at OCC after graduating from Santa Ana High School in 1963 and performed as Maria in an on-campus production of “The Sound of Music.” Adam DeVine, an actor and comedian known for roles on the TV shows “Modern Family” and “Workaholics,” and Patrick Warburton, aka David Puddy on “Seinfeld,” are two more well-recognized Pirates who’ve notched Hollywood successes.