La Sierra University Mourns the Death of Tom Zapara

La Sierra University is saddened to announce the recent death of the business school’s namesake and key donor, Tom Zapara. Zapara died on June 16 at the age of 100, just one month before his 101st birthday.

Residents of Laguna Beach, California, United States, Zapara and his wife, Violet, have served as longtime supporters of the business school and its programs and played a crucial role as generous seed donors for the school’s new 60,200-square-foot (about 5,600-square-meter) building, which opened as a state-of-the art facility in 2013. The Zapara School of Business subsequently received awards for its architectural design and has stood as an iconic campus and community landmark near La Sierra University’s main entrance on Riverwalk Parkway in Riverside, California.

Zapara was an enthusiastic supporter of the business school’s Enactus chapter team, formerly called SIFE, or Students in Free Enterprise. The La Sierra University student team, initiated in the early 1990s, set standards of excellence in local and international economic and education empowerment projects that changed lives, and in their annual report presentations during national and international competitions. In May 2016, Zapara, at age 93, traveled with a university cohort supporting the La Sierra student Enactus team and witnessed their win of the Enactus national trophy in St. Louis, Missouri. The team represented the United States in the Enactus World Cup competition in Toronto, Canada, that fall.

Zapara noted in 2012, “God has a great plan for that [business] school. The challenge is for us to tune in for what God has in mind.” 

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Attendees of the 2013 grand opening event gather in front of the new Tom & Vi Zapara School of Business constructed on La Sierra University’s campus. [Photo: La Sierra University]

Tom Zapara speaks during a special tribute in 2015 given by La Sierra University’s student Enactus team to him and his wife, Violet (fourth from left). [Photo: La Sierra University]

A night-time view of the Tom & Vi Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University. [Photo: La Sierra University]

“Tom Zapara was not only one of our strongest supporters, he was also our good friend and mentor along with his wife, Vi,” John Thomas, dean of the Zapara School of Business, said. “Tom had a great interest in and caring for Seventh-day Adventist higher education in general and for our La Sierra students in particular and wanted to see them succeed. He generously supported the business school, not only with funds that brought the new facility to fruition, but in ongoing support for our student projects, and we are forever grateful. Through their dedication to La Sierra University and to other Seventh-day Adventist educational institutions and outreach, Tom and Vi Zapara have set an excellent example of what it means to pay it forward, to use one’s success to make the world a better place and to further the message of God’s love for humankind.”

Tom and Vi Zapara would have celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary in August. The Seventh-day Adventist entrepreneurs and philanthropists are also La Sierra University alumni. Tom and Vi founded Zee Medical Inc. in 1952 at their home as an occupational first aid, safety, and training products firm. It was named after the nickname Tom acquired while serving as a medic during World War II.

The couple grew the venture into an industry leader, serving more than 400,000 manufacturing plants, construction firms, restaurants, hotels, and other organizations in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The Zaparas sold the company after 30 years to leading pharmaceutical supply chain distributor and medical supplies and equipment wholesaler McKesson Corporation. The Zaparas then founded and grew into a major firm Life Support Products, a company that served the national emergency response industry.

Over the decades, Tom and Vi Zapara have supported through their finances and their expertise numerous ministries and Adventist educational and health-care organizations including the Tom & Vi Zapara Rehabilitation Pavilion at Loma Linda University, Adventist-Laymen’s Services & Industries (ASi), ASi Missions, Inc., and Adventist educators through the creation of the Zapara Excellence in Teaching Award.

In addition to his wife, Violet, Tom Zapara is survived by their daughter Shelley and Shelley’s husband, Jere Fox, daughter Cindy, and five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. “The Zapara School of Business remembers the life of one who so profoundly embodied its spirit and its call to create value and make a difference in the world,” school leaders said.

The original version of this story was posted on the La Sierra University news site.