Arts Patron Gives $1 Million to City’s Library Foundation

The Library Foundation of Los Angeles, the fund-raising arm of the city Public Library, has received the largest donation from an individual in its seven-year history--$1 million from longtime arts patron Flora Laney Thornton.

The widow of Litton Industries co-founder Charles “Tex” Thornton has earmarked her donation for the foundation’s endowment, which will provide ongoing support for library programs after it reaches $10 million. Thornton’s contribution, announced this week, brings the fund about halfway to that goal, said Vanessa Chang, president and chairwoman of the foundation’s board of directors.

“We’re thrilled,” Chang said. “She has given us freedom to pick and choose programs that are most needed” by directing the money to an unrestricted fund.

Thornton, whose long record of philanthropy includes a $25-million gift to the USC School of Music, said she has always planned on making a large contribution to the library.

“What [the library] does for the city and education is my main motive in doing this,” Thornton said. “We will always need libraries.”

The Library Foundation, charged with soliciting private donations to enhance city funding, has raised almost $23 million since its creation in 1992. These dollars have supported summer reading programs for children and teenagers, as well as help with homework at numerous branch libraries.

“It’s really the children, the teens and the adults of Los Angeles who are benefiting from this,” Chang said.

The donation is just part of Thornton’s service to the Library Foundation. She has served on its board of directors since 1995 and also created the Library Foundation Council, a women’s group that has solicited almost $1 million for reading enrichment programs and new computers and software.

In appreciation of her ongoing assistance, an indoor courtyard at the downtown Central Library will bear Thornton’s name.

“She has become one of our biggest boosters,” said City Librarian Susan Kent.