Gen. William Lyon died in May 2020, but the legendary homebuilder and local philanthropist, who would have turned 100 this year, continues to have an impact.
About two months ago, the new General William Lyon Leadership Center at Hoag’s Newport Beach hospital campus was dedicated; the space aims to “serve as a focal point where Hoag executive, governance and medical leadership can come together,” the hospital said.
Hoag physicians “are also looking ahead for the next best treatment or procedure to help patients, and my wish is for this space to inspire them as they do that,” said his wife, Willa Dean Lyon, at the time the family’s gift for the center was announced.
About a month ago, the United States Air Force’s Band of the Golden West performed at the Irvine Barclay Theatre as a part of its West Coast tour. The event honored Lyon, the former major general and chief of the Air Force Reserves.
“Even in death, his purpose-filled life continues to make a difference,” said Lyon Studios’ Curt Lyon, the general’s nephew.
There’s been recognitions of a different type for the namesake of the Lyon Air Museum, and a noted collector of vintage cars.
At the La Jolla Concours event in April, the Lyon family’s 1931 Duesenberg Model J Weymann “Tapertail” Speedster earned a Best in Show Award.
That was followed by honors at Italy’s famed Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, which this year celebrated “the dazzling motoring indulgences of the mighty Maharajas” with a special award.
According to a report in Classic Driver, the “most impressive of the cars once commissioned by Indian royalty was certainly the Duesenberg SJ Speedster designed by Gurney Nutting in 1935 for the 28-year-old Maharaja Holkar of Indore.”
It was brought to the event by Newport Beach’s Bill H. Lyon, the son of the general and former William Lyon Homes CEO, who now oversees the family’s collection.
“With its bright orange interior and wicker steering wheel, the Boattail Speedster outclassed the competition,” Classic Driver noted. It secured the Lyon family the Trofeo BMW Group award, better known as “Best of Show.”
Speculative office development has largely been put on hold across OC; see page 8 for news on a creative office campus across the street from the Tustin Legacy development being scrapped.
Some build-to-suit projects are moving ahead.
A few miles away from the scuttled Barranca Parkway development, on a portion of the Tustin Legacy development run by the South OC Community College District, Advantech Co. recently held a formal ground-breaking event for its forthcoming new North American headquarters.
Advantech is a Taiwanese-based maker of industrial PCs, embedded Internet of Things devices and other tech products.
Advantech plans a six-story 108,942-square-foot office, along with an additional two-story 78,837-square-foot warehouse facility, according to the school district.
Construction work hadn’t started at the site as of last week, but Advantech officials said at the ground-breaking event that the office should be done in two years.
