Endowment Funds

In memory of Bill Beahrs, this fund was established in 2017 with a focus on Cazadero’s JumpStart-in-Music program. Proceeds from this fund help ensure that students from Title 1 schools have the opportunity to experience Caz.

Bill loved music, and played saxophone until he was hit by a train at age 13; remarkably, he survived the accident but was physically limited for the rest of his life. Music continued to be one of his great joys, and he participated in community choruses in Marin and in Berkeley for several decades. This fund honors his memory by helping kids come to Caz to experience music in this beautiful, nurturing camp.

This fund was set up in 2008 to honor Travis “Trav” Davison, former camper, counselor, staffer, board president, and tireless Caz supporter. Trav passed away due to complications from early onset Alzheimer’s.  He was 58.

A talented trombonist, he played and marched with the CAL band while continuing to teach during the summer at Caz. During a 20-year successful banking career, his passion for music education continued to grow.  A stint teaching music in the Piedmont Schools followed his early retirement from the financial sector. He was at his happiest when he was helping connect children to music.

In his relationship and commitment to Caz, Trav was unwavering. As another Caz alum put it, “he always showed up.”  If there was work to be done up at camp – and there always was – Trav was there.  No task was too onerous – painting, debris hauling, septic tank repair– he tackled each project with energy and good humor.

His legacy touched other corners of the musical world as well.  Credited with saving the flailing Oakland East Bay Symphony in the late 1980’s, he worked tirelessly to bring the orchestra out of bankruptcy, giving generously of his time and personal resources and asking the same of others.  He also spearheaded efforts to bring Michael Morgan to the podium. Morgan would later say,  “… his enthusiasm for music went beyond the concert hall. He knew how important music education was and to reach kids with music.  I don’t think that the Oakland East Bay Symphony would be here if not for him.”

Friends and family came together soon after Trav’s death to create the Travis Davison Scholarship Fund for Brass. We are so glad to be a part of maintaining his legacy with scholarships awarded with the help of this fund.

F. Carl Dwight was the first Camp Director when Cazadero Performing Arts Camp was begun in 1957. Dwight was an administrator in the Berkeley Unified School District when Bob Lutt was the Band Director at Berkeley High School. Together, they partnered to create a summer music camp at the site of an underutilized Berkeley Family Camp in Sonoma county. The city provided maintenance staff and food, Carl Dwight was the first Camp Director, and Bob Lutt was the Music Director. And thus Cazadero was born.

The F. Carl and Katherine H. Dwight Memorial Campership Fund was established in 2000 to provide scholarships to help committed young musicians come to camp and to carry on Caz’s founding promise that “no camper will be turned away due to lack of funds”.

Higashi Fukawa was born in the United States in 1928. Sent back to Japan for school when he was 5, he remained there throughout World War II. After the war, he returned to the United States where he was soon drafted into the U.S. Army, serving as an interpreter during the Korean War.  When his war service was over he, and new bride Haruko, settled in San Francisco.

With help from the GI bill, Higashi earned a BA in Anthropology but was unable to find work in the San Francisco area. With a growing young family to support, Fukawa joined the Teamsters and became a proud “Teamo”.  When, at one point, he was laid off, he was able to use his accrued vacation benefits to open a business for his wife while he worked out of the Teamsters’ union hall.  His wife started the Hopkins Launderette across from Monterey Market; Haruko, and daughter Kumi are still in business today.

Higashi and Haruko soon moved their young family to Berkeley and sent their three children off to the nearby public schools. Higashi and Haruko worried that their children might struggle to find their place in mainstream American culture. Those concerns subsided in the fourth grade when all Berkeley children are introduced to music. It soon became clear that music would be the means for the Fukawa children to find their footing and their community.

Eventually, all 3 of the Fukawa children found their way to Cazadero Music Camp as campers, while daughters Doris and Kumi also became part of the staff. Fukawa was impressed by the profound educational and life experiences the camp offered and he was moved that this opportunity was open to all Berkeley residents, even a working class family of color like his.

Fukawa deeply valued what Cazadero strives to provide, a welcoming place where students of all socio-economic and cultural backgrounds can find meaningful commonality. He referred to Caz as the best “salad”.

This fund, The Higashi Fukawa Scholarship Fund for Strings, was established in 1997 to honor and memorialize Fukawa’s love and pride in his family as well as his appreciation of the positive impact Caz had in his children’s lives. This fund provides scholarships for serious, young, east-bay musicians from financially challenged families, enabling them to attend Cazadero and benefit from it’s magic just as the Fukawa family did.

George and Betty Gaebler were lifelong residents of Berkeley and dedicated their lives to community building and youth education. George was a community leader, serving on the Berkeley planning commission and as longtime Scoutmaster of BSA Troop 24. He shared a love of music with Betty who was a music educator and performed as a classical pianist for most of her life.

George and Betty loved Caz and were longtime contributors to the program dating back to the 1960’s as their six children and seven of their grandchildren attended camp. Linda (Gaebler) Kurek went on to a career in music education and returned to Caz many times as guest conductor.  Other family members served on the camp staff and on the board of directors. George and Betty’s involvement with Caz spanned more than 40 years and included attending more than 100 concerts.

The George and Betty Gaebler Family Endowment Fund was established to honor their dedication to youth music education and their longtime commitment to the success of Cazadero Performing Arts Camp.

Established in 1998 by Kevin Green and Holly Wilson Greene in honor of Leland Greene to help deserving young musicians attend Cazadero.

Stephen “Doc” Kupka, world renown baritone saxophone player and founding member of the band Tower of Power, grew up in Berkeley California in the 1950’s and 60’s. His first instrument, starting at age 12, was the oboe which he played throughout high school and college. In his final semester at Berkeley High School, then Band Director Bob Lutt encouraged Kupka to join the high school stage band. It was then that Kupka first tried the baritone saxophone.

After attending college and listening to the likes of James Brown, Otis Redding, and Sam and Dave he was overwhelmed by a passion for rhythm and blues. He took a job as a roadie for the band The Loading Zone while learning to play his horn. When he returned to the Bay Area and met fellow saxophonist Emilio Castillo in 1968 the mighty band Tower of Power was begun.

The Stephen “Doc” Kupka Scholarship Fund was established in 2000 to support young musicians with scholarships to attend Cazadero. It honors the profound impact that music education can have on the lives of young people.

The Beate Lewis Scholarship Fund for Strings was established in 2008. Here are the families thoughts about setting up this endowed fund in honor of Beate Lewis:

For anybody who had the privilege of knowing our mother (wife, grandmother, mother-in-law) you will also know that her love of music, especially chamber music, provided her immeasurable joy. And, as you probably also know, she went to great lengths to instill this love in her children and grandchildren!

As we started thinking about how to honor her appropriately, it became clear that our focus should be on music. To this end, we have funded an endowment in her name. It is a scholarship fund, specifically for young string musicians, at Cazadero Music Camp.

Our hope is that every year the interest from the endowment will help some children who wouldn’t otherwise be able to participate in this amazing musical experience. Two of Beate’s children and two of her grandchildren have the pleasure of experiencing this camp themselves and continue to participate in it.

Louis W. Lewis Scholarship Fund was set up in 2010. Lewis was a physician by profession. He specialized in pain management, establishing the first pain clinic in the East Bay after settling here upon graduation from medical school.  Music, however, was always an important part of Lewis’ life. Before attending medical school he played with the Dallas Symphony. After completing his studies he stayed active as a musician playing in local woodwind quintets and as a member of the Bohemian Club Band for over 40 years.

His love of music passed down to his children and grandchildren several of whom went to Cazadero when young and one of whom has gone on to be a full-time professional musician with a band of her own. In honor of that legacy, friends and family members have set up this fund in support of scholarships to help financially challenged young musicians attend Cazadero Music Camp.

Robert “Bob” Lutt and Beth Lutt are the founders of Cazadero Performing Arts Camp, begun in 1957. Bob was the Director of Instrumental Music at Berkeley High School at the time, a position he held for 20 years. He and Beth stayed at the city owned property in Cazadero one weekend in 1956 and the idea of creating a band camp on the site came to them.

“In the summer of 1957 I took my band to Cazadero for the first time. It was an immediate success! I had friends in the San Francisco Symphony and although I couldn’t pay them, I could provide the teachers and their families with a good time. Word travelled and more and more came to teach and coach. Then the Symphony changed their contract from nine months a year to twelve. So we hired teachers from everywhere — they’d come for a week. We’ve had some very fine ones. In the first year, we had 65 campers.  Eight years later, there were 800 kids coming to up to Caz each summer.”

Bob’s musical career changed and grew but his commitment to Caz remained absolute. Caz exists because of Bob and Beth Lutt.

Bob passed away in October of 2011. This endowed fund was established soon after by his devoted friends and family to continue his great work, a place of learning and music in an inspirational natural setting.

David “Gene” Eugene Phillips was a long time supporter of Cazadero Music Camp. In his youth he had two passions, music and aviation. After contracting polio when he was very young, flying was no longer an option and music became his primary focus. He received a BA in Music from San Jose State University and made his career in Audio Engineering where he met his wife of 44 years, Margaret.

In the late 1960’s, Gene was a music instructor at Cazadero and he loved it. When the camp relaunched in the mid-1990’s, Gene was one of the first to volunteer for the board of directors with both time and money to help guarantee that Caz would succeed.

This fund was established in January 2015 just a few days after Gene passed away. It has provided scholarship funding for deserving young musicians every summer since.

A musician and pilot, John contributed a legacy of excellence to both arenas. Raised in Orland, California, John’s trumpet studies were fostered by mom, Alberta (Pat) Skinner. The virtuoso excelled at USU, Logan. On graduation, he volunteered for USAF Vietnam service. Post-war, the pilot began a long career flying for Flying Tigers and Federal Express airlines. He simultaneously established the John Skinner Band. Skinner ensembles have played fine music for thousands of California celebrations over several decades and will continue the tradition. John enthusiastically supported Cazadero Music Camp for many years, including as president of the Board. He passed away in August, 2017 and is survived by wife Susan and daughter Kathryn Skinner.

John was an incredible teacher, leader, and patron of Cazadero. His lifelong relationship with Cazadero started in 1959 as a camper, and continued for decades as a counselor, faculty, Board Member, Board President and Advisory Board Member, attending camp concerts as often as he could. His leadership helped rebuild Cazadero in the challenging years after the camp’s long hiatus The John Skinner Scholarship Fund was established in honor of John’s leadership, mentorship, and love for Cazadero. Funds will be used for trumpet scholarships.

The Wayne Tarr Scholarship Fund was established in 2016 to honor and memorialize Wayne’s long commitment to music education in general and Cazadero Music Camp in particular.

Ben Ulrich was a long-time Bay Area resident living primarily in San Francisco and Berkeley. He was a percussionist, a bartender, and a student of computer animation. He was 35 years old when he passed away in January, 2000.

Ben asked that his many musical instruments be donated to the Berkeley school music programs to help inspire children to make music a part of their lives.

In honor of his memory, his family and friends created the Ben Ulrich Scholarship Fund for Percussion. The fund provides scholarships for local students to attend Cazadero Music Camp in order to maintain Ben’s legacy, a profound love of music and performance.