Beverly Hills : Now It’s the Salter Theater

The Board of Education on Tuesday renamed the Little Theater at Beverly Hills High School the Salter Family Theater in a ceremony honoring Councilman and former Mayor Maxwell Salter and his wife, Janet.

Board member Betty Wilson expressed the appreciation of the board for the couple’s “generosity and support of education in establishing an endowment fund for the theater.”

During his election campaign of April, 1990, Salter asked that, instead of campaign contributions, gifts be made to the Beverly Hills Education Foundation. He pledged to match all contributions dollar for dollar.

During the campaign, Salter said, he “expected maybe $20,000 or $25,000 would come in. It was $70,000!”

The Salters had contributed to the fund since its inception, he said, crediting his wife’s interest in the performing arts. The councilman estimated that “altogether, including the amount from my friends, a couple of hundred thousand dollars was raised.”