Profiles in Giving

Art-loving Investor Wally Mersereau Plans a Scholarship Fund at SMCCCF

When he visits New York City, Wally Mersereau, 80, of San Mateo likes to sit on a bench and admire The Untermyer Fountain in Central Park’s Conservatory Garden. He contemplates the bronze figures of three joyful girls holding hands and dancing around the limestone base of the fountain.

“I discovered it about nine years ago on a trip to New York and I love it,” Mersereau said. The sculpture made him curious about the late Samuel Untermyer, a prominent New York attorney who owned the fountain and whose children donated it to the City of New York in 1947 as a memorial to their parents.

Mersereau, who retired from public employment in 1984 and has been self-employed since, plans to write a book about the fountain, which was created by Berlin sculptor Walter Schott in 1910. He has done research about it in the U.S. and Europe. An enthusiastic traveler and art lover, he heads for art museums whenever he arrives at a destination. Museum excursions include cities on the schedule of the Stanford women’s basketball team, which he cheers for in person wherever they play.

The former Director of Properties for the Port of Oakland, and past Director of Real Estate for BART, Mersereau spent 30 years in public agency real estate. He appraised properties, negotiated with land owners and leased public land for private development. At age 16 he worked on the construction of a small warehouse with his father, Dale Mersereau. Dale, who had only one year of college and was unemployed and broke during the Depression, prospered after WWII as a self-taught industrial real estate developer.

“He started as a riveter at Douglas Aircraft in about 1933 and worked his way up to a general supervisor of 3,500 people during World War II” Mersereau said. “He built his first building in 1947, learning the profession on-the-fly, teaching me the business over the years.

“In the early 1980s my father decided our family had surplus funds. We discussed what to do with them. He decided to assist undergraduates who might not otherwise be able to afford to go to college. His first scholarship fund was at USC where I graduated.”

After his father died in 1993, Wally’s mother, a former elementary teacher who died in 2005 at age 108, set up a donor-advised fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, primarily to support education.

As Mersereau pursued his public agency career, he kept involved with his father’s business part-time. After he retired, he added two industrial buildings in Hayward to the family’s portfolio, which is now managed by Mersereau’s son.

Last year, Mersereau and his wife designated in their estate plan that two buildings be sold after their deaths to create additional scholarship funds, including one at the San Mateo County Community Colleges Foundation (SMCCCF).

An advocate of life-long learning, Mersereau has taken many courses at community colleges, mostly for personal enrichment—including the start of a ten-year effort to master Japanese.

“We had a Japanese exchange student stay with us in 1975,” he recalled. “Her English was excellent. I tried to learn Japanese at CSM classes and took private lessons. I never became good at the language, but I learned a lot about the culture. I have visited Japan and have stayed in touch with the student and her family.

“My older daughter got an AA degree and certificate in tourism from Cañada College, my younger daughter a certificate in early childhood education and my son attended CSM for a year. The name ‘community college’ is very appropriate because of the diversity of students–all ranges of ages, ethnicities and cultures are represented. I like that.”

His parents set up scholarship funds at four universities. “I get thank-you letters from the scholarship recipients,” he said. “Everyone is so appreciative, both for the financial support and the recognition of their hard work.” He added that many of the letters say that the student hopes to someday set up a scholarship for others.

Mersereau has supported San Mateo County community college students through annual contributions to the SMCCCF since 1991. The two buildings set aside in the family estate plan will fund an endowment at the Foundation as a tribute to his parents that will be at least as permanent as the fountain in Central Park.

SMCCCF is pleased to enroll Wallace and Patricia Mersereau as members of its Legacy Society. For Legacy Society information, call Carrie Ridge at 650.358.6864.