Vice chancellor shares memories of Pepperdine’s campus evolution.
By Jami Lambert – Staff Writer
Christina Littlefield – Graduate Assistant
Dr. Larry Hornbaker knows the history behind every building on the Malibu campus, primarily because he was the fundraising force behind the construction, rubbing elbows with such benefactors as Blanche Seaver, George Elkins, John Tyler, Morris Pendleton, Fritz Huntsinger and Francis Smothers.
His retirement in December marked the end of an era at Pepperdine and left another hole in the institutional memory of the university.
Having worked himself up to vice chancellor after a 33 and a half year career, Hornbaker witnessed all of the major events in the course of the university’s transition and expansion at Malibu.
He supervised construction for the faculty/staff housing, the Lovernich and George Page Apartments, the Pendleton Computer Science Center, the Field Heritage Hall and Smothers Theatre. He also played a role in planning the Drescher Graduate Campus.
“It has been a wonderful journey and has brought me in contact with great friends who are dedicated to Christian education,” Hornbaker said.
Hornbaker was hired in 1969 as the vice president for Development.
In 26 months, his team raised $24.6 million to move the Pepperdine campus to its current location in Malibu.
Since that time, he has held the title of vice president for Administration, acting vice president for Finance, senior vice president, executive vice chancellor, and, most recently, vice chancellor.
Hornbaker’s involvement with the university’s benefactors over the last three decades has transformed him into a valuable source of institutional memory. Give him a name of a building or a memorial on campus and he can tell you in detail how it came to be.
His favorite such story is that of Smothers Theatre. Hornbaker took Francis Smothers, a friend of George and Helen Pepperdine, to see Pepperdine’s production of “Oklahoma” in 1972, the first year the Malibu campus was opened.
Still lacking a theater, students were forced to perform on the outer patio area of the cafeteria as the audience sat mesmerized on bales of straw.
“She was so impressed by that performance,” Hornbaker told Currents Magazine last spring. “She said it was such a shame that we had such beautiful talent and such poor facilities.”
She decided to donate money for a theater, but as the project came together her health declined. Not knowing how much time she had left, Hornbaker moved up the groundbreaking festivities. The same students who performed in “Oklahoma” sang at the Brock House ceremony.
“The kids did a beautiful job singing and as they left they each stopped and thanked and kissed and hugged her,” Hornbaker said. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the whole hundred of us who were there.”
Smothers died one month after they officially broke through the concrete where the theater now stands.
In his many years with the university, Hornbaker has seen many changes in the campus, reputation and spirituality of Pepperdine.
“The greatest change has been the increased reputation of the university,” Hornbaker said.
Bill Henegar, associate vice president of Public Affairs, worked closely with Hornbaker on several projects.
“Larry and his wife, Carol, cared for the people that the university put under their charge and the greatest deal of that care was not the faintest bit glamorous,” Henegar said.
In the future Hornbaker would like to see Pepperdine’s reputation continue to gain respect and see its endowment grow to $1 billion. He would also like to enhance the library and improve the athletic complexes.
“I am very happy with where the university is today,” Hornbaker said. “I have a strong belief in the current leadership and am very pleased with the graduates of the university.”
Hornbaker will continue with the university on a part-time basis. He plans to spend his retirement traveling, writing about his time at Pepperdine, and enjoying his six grandchildren.
He will be remembered for his help in making the institution what it is today.
“Larry has been a gentleman, a friend, and, for Pepperdine, a rock, and he will not fade from memory,” Henegar said.
January 30, 2003