Willow Glen Resident
Community
University receives $15 million donation from Chuck Davidson
By Mayra Flores De Marcotte
Willow Glen resident Charles W. Davidson decided to share his good fortune with his alma mater.
On March 8 Davidson donated $15 million to San José State University's engineering department. It is the largest private donation to the school in its 150-year history, topping alumni Donald and Sally Lucas' $10 million gift in February.
"It seems like that's the human, civilized thing to do if you are going to help make a better society," Davidson says. "I got into a position where I could help, so I did."
Davidson started giving back to the university in the 1980s. He set up an endowment fund for two scholarships a year for juniors and seniors in the civil engineering department. He also established a $2 million endowment for a professorship in construction management in civil engineering at the school.
As a result of his generosity, Davidson says, "I'm connected to the university." He also chairs the university's Tower Foundation, an organization that was formed three years ago to manage endowment monies.
An Oklahoma native, Davidson moved to California in 1952 after a three-year stint in the U.S. Air Force. He then worked as surveyor for the California Highway Department. He later became a switchman for the Southern Pacific Railroad in the College Park Yard and a land-use lobbyist primarily for cities and counties dealing with rezoning issues. In 1953, he worked as a surveyor in conjunction with the detonation of the first hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.
His involvement with civil engineering, however, stemmed from early experience working construction as a teenager, he says.
"I already had an older brother who was a civil engineer," Davidson says. "It had always been the old standby, not glamorous by any standards, but it was always there, year in and year out."
Davidson took his extensive real-world knowledge to college and in 1957 graduated from SJSU with a degree in civil engineering.
In 1960, he created Charles W. Davidson Co. Consulting Civil Engineers. The company deals primarily in land development in Santa Clara County.
A year later, Davidson launched his second business, DKB Homes, and became a major homebuilder in the area. He subsequently started L&D Construction Company and DKD Property Management Company.
The advances in civil engineering facilitated growth.
"We used to draw our plans with ink and paper," he says. "We did our surveying like George Washington did."
With the advent of computers, however, the process became streamlined and efficient.
"I've had a good run here in San Jose," Davidson says. "I love San Jose and California."
