ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
THE TAUBMAN FAMILY pledged $500,000 for a welcome center to Explore Park Monday.
The Roanoke family that owns the Advance Auto Parts chain has pledged $500,000 to build a welcome center at Explore Park in Roanoke County.
The Taubman family announced the gift Monday on a small oak-studded ridge top where the center will be prominent to vehicles entering the living history and recreation park on the future Roanoke River Parkway, a connection with the Blue Ridge Parkway that is under construction.
Marc Taubman, the company's assistant vice president and a member of Explore Park's governing board, said the center will be built in memory of Arthur Taubman, his late grandfather who founded the company in 1932.
With him Monday were his parents, Nick, chairman and chief executive officer, and Jenny Taubman.
"Arthur Taubman spent a lifetime working and caring for people locally and globally so in my opinion, there's no one more appropriate to welcome people to Explore Park than Arthur Taubman," Marc Taubman said.
"We graciously accept your unbelievable gift," said Jack Loeb, chairman of the Virginia Recreation Facilities Authority, the park governing board.
Arthur Taubman died in 1994 at 92. He left a legacy of contributions and support of education and the arts.
Visitors entering the Arthur Taubman Center will see a film about the park and natural history exhibits, buy tickets and shop for gifts. The 7,000-square-foot center will have food and beverage vending machines and public restrooms, the latter being in limited supply at the park now. Scheduled to open next summer, it will look like the home of a typical affluent 18th-century Western Virginian, with two stories, stone fireplace and long porch.
The designer will be Henry J. Browne of Charlottesville, who has worked on the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials and U.S. Treasury building in Washington, D.C., and the Governor's Mansion in Richmond.
The family's gift raised the total of private donations to Explore Park since inception to $8.5 million. Without it, Rupert Cutler, park's executive director, said he had "zero" chance of having a welcome center in the near future and he would have had to continue to sell tickets from a small wooden booth built by the staff.
Advance Auto Parts is a privately owned retail chain with 625 locations.
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