From what I know Don Cline owned an electronics firm that was sold to ATT and he made 10s of millions of dollars. Maybe closer to 100 million. He and his deceased wife Jo, gave money to a lot of astronomy things and I am not sure how he got connected with Dr. Caton and App State but he gave some money for the visitor center and then gave even more to get it finished. Their were some building code concerns and from what I heard the final donation was something like, "What do you need to finish this off?" and he wrote the check.NattyBumppo'sRevenge wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 1:26 pmInteresting, I grew up a mile from Guilford College, went to Guilford College UMC with two Cline’s, both of whom went to App.McLeansvilleAppFan wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 12:52 pmThe visitor center at Dark Sky Observatory is named after a different "Cline" actually. The Cline at DSO is the same Cline that has his name on the observatory at Guilford College, GTCC, and put up a ton of money for PARI.BeauFoster wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 12:29 pmPorta Johns don’t count.McLeansvilleAppFan wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 10:53 amApp State already has some buildings named after Cline actually.
His wife passed away 4 or 5 years ago. He attends the Greensboro Astronomy Club meeting every now and then, usually when he is bringing in guest speakers to GTCC which happens twice a year. The last time both he and his wife were at a meeting before she passed away the visitor center had only been finished for a bit. I made sure to talk with them for a minute and thank them for the gift to App State. If you have never been to DSO then please do so when it opens back up. It should be a point of pride for any App State supporter. (They are doing online sessions now.)
He also spent a ton of money on a land swap to get his hands on the old radar station near Asheville and turn it into a radio astronomy research facility. (www.pari.edu). He and his wife never had children so I assume the vast majority of his money will pass to PARI for its continuing mission.
He is going to be the guest speaker for the Gboro Astro Club in August, and it will likely be online. I can send a link if you are interested