FUND PROFILE

Wayne & Judith Carter Endowment

The Wayne & Judith Carter Endowment supports PCF’s local grantmaking in Human Services and reflects the couple’s long-standing commitment to community involvement in the Greater Pasadena area. Created through an IRA charitable distribution, the fund honors their shared values of service, philanthropy, and thoughtful giving.

OVERVIEW

About the Fund

The Wayne & Judith Carter Endowment supports PCF’s grantmaking in the Impact Area of Human Services. Wayne Carter and Judith Thrush Carter were both born in San Francisco, three years apart and in separate hospitals. Both grew up in nearby Los Altos, California. Although they first met in high school, it was not until they were students at Stanford University that their relationship flourished. They married as they were completing their studies.

Wayne received his MBA and Judith her bachelor’s degree in history, in June 1962. Wayne accepted a job at a medical device company, which required that they relocate to Southern California. In the years that followed their family grew to two sons, a daughter, and numerous cats. They spent most of the intervening years in this area with a two-year period in Tucson, Arizona due to a job transfer. While in Tucson, Judith completed a master’s degree in Library and Information Sciences at the University of Arizona.

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Detail shot of an Art Deco-style building showing detailed friezes and brickwork

Upon their return to San Marino, they supported various community activities in which their children were active, among them were PTA, Girl Scouts, and Little League. Wayne’s career required business travel, but he managed to play tennis on the courts at Lacy Park on weekends. He was president of the San Marino Tennis Foundation in 1990-91.

As the couple’s children graduated and moved on, Judith found time to use her graduate degree in a variety of unique library settings and to write columns for the San Marino Tribune and the Pasadena Star-News. Wayne’s career in sales and marketing for large corporations took a turn when he joined Heidrick & Struggles, the international executive search firm. He retired as a senior partner and director after 21 years in the firm’s Los Angeles office.

Both Carters found time to increase their community service after Wayne’s retirement. Over the years they focused on their involvement as Fellows, members of the Collectors Council and Successors at the Huntington Library. Both served on the board of the Frostig School in Pasadena, and the San Marino Historical Society. Wayne has served with the Rotary Club of San Marino and was a board member of the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra for several years. Judith has volunteered as the archivist at the San Marino Historical Society for more than fifteen years. After nearly forty years in their home in San Marino, the Carters moved to MonteCedro, an active retirement community in Altadena, in 2016.

Using IRA Charitable Distribution to Establish a PCF Endowment 
Through the years, the Carters met people who served on the Pasadena Community Foundation Board and saw that the Foundation was compatible with their desire to focus on the greater Pasadena area. A few years ago, they moved the Irval & Florence Scholarship Fund, a donor advised fund established in honor of Wayne’s father, to PCF. Wayne said, “A year ago, that fund was turned into an endowment fund controlled by our children to give them experience in philanthropy, and the PCF staff made it a seamless transfer. At that time we decided to contribute to the PCF’s community grantmaking as well.”

In 2022, the Carters used their IRA charitable distributions to create a named endowment, which will contribute to PCF’s community grants programs and support the PCF Impact Area of Human Services in the Greater Pasadena area.

Grantmaking Impact  

Through this fund, PCF has been able to

  • Provide sustained and flexible funding
  • Offer consistent financial support for our local grantmaking programs throughout Greater Pasadena
  • Enhance community programs
  • Empower organizations to expand their services and reach more individuals in need
  • Direct resources when and where they are needed most, respond quickly to emerging needs, and fill funding gaps that restricted gifts can’t cover.

Contact Us 

For more information about PCF giving opportunities, please contact
Pasadena Community Foundation
301 E. Colorado Blvd., Suite 810
Pasadena, CA., 91101
626.796.2097
pcfstaff@pasadenacf.org