Transportation Center the Leonards' Legacy

Known widely as a visionary regarding transportation issues in the Golden State, Bill Leonard, along with his wife Bobbie, fittingly created a legacy through CSUSB's Transportation Center in 2006. Their gift of $2.1 million to CSUSB, through an irrevocable charitable remainder trust, prompted the CSU Board of Trustees to honor the family with the naming of the William E. and Barbara Leonard Transportation Center in July 2006.

Bill's leadership of the California Transportation Commission and service to the state's highway commission, combined with his activism to keep the 210 Freeway project on track, has led to his dubbing as "Mr. Transportation" for the Inland Empire. As the university seeded its transportation center with federal funding, Bill was among the civic leaders who provided guidance to the developing academic center.

Under the direction of Norm King, former head of the San Bernardino Associated Governments, the William E. and Barbara Leonard Transportation Center will use the funding to research transportation issues, particularly as they impact the effective movement of people and goods through the Inland Empire.

Though Bill is credited with being one of the community leaders who brought the Cal State campus to San Bernardino in the early Sixties, he says it is the existence of the transportation center at CSUSB that attracted this gift. The trust, funded with real estate, provides an income stream for Bill and Bobbie for life, as well as tax savings.

"The Leonards' vision for including CSUSB as part of their estate plans adds to their legacy as prominent Californians who have improved the quality of life for so many in this state," said Cindi Pringle, who oversees the gift and estate planning program at the university. "They are true role models."