Henry Nicholas, cofounder and former chief executive of Irvine chipmaker Broadcom Corp., is set to give $10 million to start after-school programs for low-income students.
The money is slated to build and operate the Nicholas Academic Center at 412 W. Fourth St. in Santa Ana. The center will serve 60 students from Santa Ana Unified School District high schools.
The center will provide transportation to and from area high schools, be equipped with state-of-the-art technology and be staffed by teachers and counselors.
Nicholas’ foundation is finalizing plans with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles to open similar centers in San Juan Capistrano and the Echo Park section of Los Angeles.
Longer-term goals include setting up academic centers all over the country.
In a related announcement, Nicholas tapped retired superior court judge Jack Mandel as executive director of the new Henry T. Nicholas Education Foundation, which is set to payout the donation over time in $500,000 increments.
The funds are helping to revive Mandel’s own program, which started in 1990 and provided after-school tutoring to inner-city students.
Mandel’s center closed its doors in 2002 for lack of funding, according to a statement.
“This exciting partnership with Dr. Nicholas enables us to pick up where we left off five years ago, but with greater resources behind us and the opportunity to make an even greater difference in the lives of young people.” Mandel said.
In addition to the academic centers, Nicholas’ foundation in partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles plans to open “entrepreneurial centers” to provide inner-city businesses in the food services industry with facilities, accounting expertise, training and distribution channels.
The foundation didn’t say how much money was going toward the business centers.
Nicholas’ gift comes at a tough time for the billionaire.
A company probe last year showed Broadcom found “significant responsibility” for improperly backdated stock options with Nicholas.
He’s now the focus of a probe by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Santa Ana over options that has taken salacious turns, unearthing allegations of drug use and other unseemly behavior by Nicholas, who left the company in early 2003.
Earlier this year he was named one of the two “unindicted potential co-conspirators” in the case that led to speculation that a federal indictment could be on the way.
