UCI Benefactor’s Pledge Disavowed : Philanthropy: Widow refuses to pay funds promised for Barclay Theatre.

The widow of developer Richard A. Barclay has no intention of paying the remainder of a $1-million pledge he made to the UC Irvine theater that bears his name, her attorney said Monday in response to a lawsuit.

“Richard Barclay made the pledge,” attorney Jeff Benice said. “Marjorie Barclay did not.”

On Friday, the UC Irvine Foundation, the city of Irvine and the Irvine Barclay Theatre filed suit against Marjorie A. Barclay and her late husband’s estate, charging that the family has not paid $600,000 of the $1-million pledge.

In 1990, Richard Barclay agreed to help complete the 750-seat theater, set on a 2.3-acre site on the UCI campus. According to the lawsuit, the Barclays made two payments totaling $400,000 to the foundation in June, 1990, and June, 1991. After Richard Barclay’s death in 1992, the payments stopped.

The lawsuit states that Richard Barclay pledged the gift in both his and his wife’s name and that in exchange for the pledge, the theater would be named after the Barclays.

But Benice said, “You won’t find her name on any of the” documents.

He also said that since the death of her husband, a Newport Beach real estate developer, Marjorie Barclay has been suffering financial difficulties and feels no obligation to honor a pledge made by her husband.

Benice also denied that the pledge stipulated that the theater be named after its benefactor.

The suggestion that Richard Barclay made the pledge in order to get his hame on the building “is also untrue,” Benice said. “It was offered to him after he made the pledge.”

UCI spokeswoman Karen Newell Young said Richard Barclay had been adamant about his name being on the theater.

“The theater was basically marketed with that name,” she said. “Lots of money and identity is tied to the Irvine Barclay name. It’s not fair to other donors who didn’t have the opportunity to have a building named after them.”

She also said the foundation has made several attempts to negotiate the payment and that “legal documents show there’s enough money in the estate to honor the pledge.”

Benice said his client is “going to aggressively defend against the claim. She just believes it’s very inappropriate, given the fact that her husband did give $400,000 and that they are taking a hardball position with Richard Barclay’s widow to extract money from her.”