Carpenter’s Gift Will Help Fund University Arts Center

Musician Richard Carpenter plans to donate more than $1 million to Cal State Long Beach, which officials said will be used to help fund the university’s new performing arts center.

The announcement was made Tuesday afternoon at a meeting of the California State University trustees. A Cal State Long Beach spokeswoman said the Carpenter donation still must be finalized.

Trustees are expected to officially accept the gift at their January board meeting, and will consider a proposal to name the university’s new auditorium the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center. The auditorium is part of a $30-million entertainment complex on campus.

Carpenter and his sister, Karen, both attended Cal State Long Beach in the late 1960s. Carpenter set up a scholarship fund in his sister’s memory after her death in 1983.