Who started Pepperdine University and when was it founded?
Answer
George Pepperdine founded George Pepperdine College in 1937, which later became Pepperdine University (in 1972).
Special Collections and University Archives (located in Payson Library on the Malibu campus) holds the George Pepperdine Family papers. For more information about visiting, doing research, or viewing items in Special Collections, please visit the Special Collections website.
A finding aid (a detailed description of collections of primary resource materials) describing the George Pepperdine Family papers is available on the Online Archive of California.
The George Pepperdine family papers include paper materials (such as correspondence, writings, and newspaper clippings), photographs, scrapbooks, films, and memorabilia, dating from 1907 to 2002. Individuals represented in the collection include George Pepperdine, Lena Rose Pepperdine (George’s first wife), Helen Louise Pepperdine (George’s second wife), George B. Pepperdine (George’s uncle), and his five children: Florence May Pepperdine Crossley, Esther Louise Pepperdine Thurston, Marilyn Pepperdine, George Pepperdine II, and Wendell Pepperdine.
A collection of digitized items is also available on the Pepperdine Digital Collections site -- the George Pepperdine Collection.
Here is a biography of George Pepperdine and his family (taken from the finding aid on the Online Archive of California):
George Pepperdine was born on June 20, 1886, in Mound Valley, Kansas, to John and Mary Pepperdine, the second of three children. In 1905, George graduated from Parsons Business School and took his first job with a local gas company. Over the next few years, he held a variety of office and bookkeeping jobs in Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. In 1907, the family moved and returned to farming, but George stayed in Kansas City, Missouri, and took a job as a bookkeeper at an automobile garage.
George married a woman from his hometown, Lena Rose Baker, on October 17, 1907. Lena was born on March 20, 1888, in Kansas to William and Agnes Baker. She was the oldest of seven children, with five brothers (Ralph, Ernest, Hallie, Herbert, and Wayne) and one sister (Winnifred).
George and Lena had two daughters, Florence and Esther
In March 1909, George came up with the idea to supply automobile parts via mail order. With business connections made at his job at the garage, he was able to secure discounted prices on parts and ordered advertisements printed on credit. His initial investment of $5.00 for 500 one-cent stamps was used to mail out his batch of advertisements. George called his business Western Auto Supply Company, and sold more than $12,000 in car parts within the first year of operation. In 1914, he produced a catalog called Ford’s Owner Supply Book to market to Model-T owners, and sales hit $229,000 that year. In 1923, George opened the corporate headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, and by 1929 there were over 170 stores in the United States. Lena was the company’s vice president and treasurer until her retirement in 1919. She died on a trip to Hawaii in 19230.
While in Los Angeles, George was involved with a variety of volunteer and charity projects building YMCA and Boys Club facilities. During one project in 1932, he met Helen Louise Davis, and the two married on June 17, 1934. Helen was working as a portrait photographer at the time she met George. Helen and George had three children together: Marilyn (born on August 27, 1935), George II (born on November 29, 1936), and Wendell (born on February 5, 1941). The Pepperdines continued to be involved in philanthropy, founding the Helen Louise Girls’ Home in 1937 and serving on the Board of Trustees for the Casa Colina Convalescent Home for Crippled Children in 1939.
George was approached in 1937 by a friend, Hugh Tiner (a fellow member of the Churches of Christ and supervisor of Los Angeles County high schools), asking for help starting a Christian college on the west coast. George Pepperdine and Hugh Tiner met with Dr. Batsell Baxter (former president of Abilene Christian University and David Lipscomb College) in February 1937, and decided to create a four-year liberal arts college with teachings based in the Christian faith. They decided on a property in Los Angeles on 79th Street and Vermont Avenue, and George Pepperdine College opened on September 21, 1937.
George decided to sell his shares in the Western Auto Supply Company to the Gamble-Skogmo Company in 1939, which allowed him to retire. The Pepperdines lost much of their fortune in the 1940s as a result of speculative investments, but they managed to keep a small portion of their income as a result of Western Auto Supply Company stock that was owned by Helen. George’s health declined throughout the late 1950s, and on July 31, 1962 George Pepperdine died and was buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. Helen continued to be involved with Pepperdine University for many decades. She died on October 5, 1990 and is also buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery.