MISSION VIEJO : Scholarship Created in Name of Student

The family of Robb Nimmo, a well-known Saddleback College drama student who performed in numerous campus productions before dying of AIDS in 1986, has established a perpetual scholarship at the school.

Nimmo’s mother, sister and brother contributed $40,000 for the scholarship, which will be given annually to one or more students pursuing a fine-arts degree. The amount of the scholarship will be determined by how much interest income the $40,000 generates from investments.

Nimmo died at the age of 26.

He enrolled at Saddleback in 1977 after graduating from Mission Viejo High School and studied under drama instructors Lynn Wells and the late Wynn Pearce. He played many roles in the college’s theater productions, including Peter Quilpe in T.S. Eliot’s “The Cocktail Party”--the first play staged in Saddleback’s fine-arts complex.

“Robb was one of the most talented students we’ve ever had here at Saddleback College,” Wells said.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from New York University in 1985, Nimmo returned to Saddleback to play Orsino in “Twelfth Night, or What You Will,” directed by Wells. At the time, he was waging a battle against AIDS.

The scholarship in his name was presented to the college by his mother, Bertha Marie Nimmo of Laguna Hills; his sister, Heidi Nimmo of San Bernardino; and his brother, John Nimmo of Mountain View. They said they established the scholarship to help fine-arts students continue their education and to carry on Robb Nimmo’s name at the college he most enjoyed.

“He always thought of (Saddleback) as his home,” Heidi Nimmo said. “He felt very good about being on this campus.”