“The biggest fringe benefit of being a donor is you are engaged in a form of high quality education…I love talking with the faculty and students; it’s really such a privilege” said Alan Templeton.

A long-time Crocker member and donor, Alan has gifted and underwritten the Crocker purchases that span the 16th to 20th centuries, with a particular fondness for European art of the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as providing other support for the Crocker. His gifts of artwork and underwritten purchases include paintings, drawings, prints as well as a piece of Meissen porcelain.

Templeton grew up in the Bay Area. His parents were distinguished chemists at UC Berkeley and provided him a model for giving when his father established an endowed chair at UC Berkeley aimed at supporting female professors with children.

Alan himself attained success as a professional artist, a teacher, a labor union administrator, curator, and a private investor. He uses his personal successes to support not only art education at his alma mater UC Davis (such as with an endowed faculty chair in European Art History, initiated in 2020, that covers European art 1600-1830 and such programs as the Templeton Endowment for the Arts and Letters to benefit specific programs).

As if that weren’t enough, he also provides support for UC Berkeley including the libraries and the Berkeley Art Museum. Retired, Templeton has become a collector in particular of 18th century art and plans to continue supporting not only art education at Davis but also art for the general public at the Crocker.