COUNTYWIDE : Segerstrom Honored for His Arts Service

Henry T. Segerstrom, who is stepping down as chairman of the Orange County Performing Arts Center board of directors, was honored Friday night at a black-tie dinner held on the stage in the center’s 3,000-seat theater in Costa Mesa.

Segerstrom, 67, a managing partner of the Costa Mesa-based development firm C.J. Segerstrom & Sons Inc., announced plans to retire from the 52-member board in April.

Replacing him as president is William Lyon, head of the William Lyon Co., a Newport Beach-based development firm that is Southern California’s largest home builder.

“After having been president since the inception of the Performing Arts Center, he wanted to step down and give someone else a chance,” said Hal Segerstrom, Henry Segerstrom’s cousin and another managing partner in the family-owned company.

Bylaws of the Performing Arts Center board prevented Segerstrom from serving more than three consecutive one-year terms.

The gala was attended by prominent supporters of the Performing Arts Center, which opened in September, 1986.

“This is for all the people wanting to thank Henry for the leadership he’s given over the years,” said Thomas H. Nielsen, vice chairman of the Irvine Co. and a member of the gala organizing committee. “Since the land-use was approved for the Performing Arts Center, he has been the leader of all the efforts to design and build it.”

Segerstrom headed fund-raising efforts in the mid-1980s that garnered $73.3 million to build the Center’s Segerstrom Hall theater complex.

The Segerstrom family donated the land and pledged $6 million toward the construction.

Plans are under way to expand the Center with a symphony concert hall and a small, multipurpose theater.