“Washington is a great city, but we are always glad to be home in Laguna Beach,” said Suzanne and James R. Mellor, taking in the ocean view and carefully tended gardens of their home on the Montage resort. The couple recently returned from the nation’s capital, enthusiastic about a city they love as much as scenic Laguna Beach.
A board member of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Mr. Mellor expressed cautious optimism that Congress will defy President Trump’s budget plan and spare the axe and the dissolution of the federal endowments, each budgeted at $148 million in 2016.
“It’s a drop in the bucket and no real savings to the budget,” he said, adding that endowment board members and education groups are more confident about the survival of the NEH and National Endowment for the Arts after lobbying congressional representatives. He cited the importance of both entities to the education of the nation’s youth.
Lifelong proponents of the arts and humanities, the couple maintained dual residences in Washington, D.C., and Laguna Beach since 1981, but settled here permanently in 1997 after Mr. Mellor retired as chair and chief executive of General Dynamics Corporation.
Though they remain philanthropically connected to D.C., the Mellors have catapulted themselves into promoting and enriching the arts scene in Laguna Beach and Orange County.
“Jim’s conclusions are typically based on sound facts, expressed well and come with practical solutions that can in fact be implemented,” said Joe Hanauer, co-chair of the Laguna Playhouse board, where Mr. Mellor is a fellow member.
“His years of experience at the top level of a variety of boards enable him to provide unmatched value to boards on which he serves. When the board came to me and asked that I take on the responsibility of president and chair, I eventually said I would, but only on the condition Jim remain on the board,” Hanauer said.
Hanauer isn’t alone in his appreciation for the Mellors, both of whom the Playhouse will honor at their annual gala April 29. Mayor Toni Iseman also recognized the couple’s myriad contributions by declaring April 11 Mellor Day in Laguna Beach in gratitude for their gifts of time and treasure. Last year, the Laguna Beach Arts Alliance honored them as patrons of the year during their annual Art Stars awards.
Besides the Playhouse board, Mr. Mellor serves as board chair of the Laguna College of Art and Design and on the UC Irvine business school board.
Mrs. Mellor helped found The Playhouse Women, a support group for the theater; serves on the boards of LCAD and Laguna Art Museum; is an appointee to the city’s Arts Commission and is an “angel” at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
“We got involved with the Playhouse at a time when regional theaters were in crisis. This theater is a jewel and we wanted to focus on that,” said Mr. Mellor.
The couple declined a commemorative gift, typically presented at the gala, and suggested guests donate a minimum of $250 to the Playhouse, which they would match. “We want this to be a win for the theater and help to focus on bringing youth to the theater and bringing theater to schools,” he said.
Married for 64 years, the couple found time to raise three children, are grandparents to nine and great-grandparents to 10, all who live fairly locally, Ms. Mellor said.
She is well-known for her impressionist landscapes and now focuses on interior and exterior design. The Mellors’ ocean view home and gardens show her fingerprints. “I have been involved in and passionate about art all my life,” she emphasized.
Mr. Mellor earned a masters degree in science from the University of Michigan. He is an engineer who appreciates art, but never had a lesson, he said.
“Jim knows what he is looking at; he has always given spot-on critiques of my work,” his wife said.
Mr. Mellor also worked for Hughes Aircraft Company and Litton Industries and holds several digital computing technology patents. A 1997 engineering school professorship at his alma mater still bears his name.
LCAD president Jonathan Burke said that the husband and wife board members bring business acumen and artistic vision to the college. “They attend all meetings. Jim leads the executive committee and the finance committee and is instrumental in setting policies for the college and he has a fantastic sense of humor,” Burke said. “Suzanne is on the development committee, serves on the Collectors’ Choice committee and helps choose new trustees.”
Ms. Mellor remains a member of the advisory board of the National Museum of Women in the Arts and a member of the exhibition circle at the National Gallery of Art. He is a board member of the Ford Theater and the National Museum of American History.
Ms. Mellor cites the 2006 establishment of the Suzanne & James Mellor Prize, awarded yearly by the women’s museum to a scholar-writer best representing the museum’s mission, as a crowning achievement. This year, Jeffrey Hamburger, a Harvard University professor of German art and culture, won the $50,000 award as co-author of “Liturgical Life and Latin Learning at Paradies bei Soest, 1300-1425.”
“Men can write the books, but they must be all about women in the arts,” Ms. Mellor explained.
Laguna’s charms have enriched the Mellors as well. He cherishes his interactions with LCAD’s students, and pushed board members to better understand students and faculty by spending an informal evening with different departments once a month. “They are not skilled in business; they are artists,” he said. By fostering connections, he said, “the school benefits and we do as well.”
[…] part of the ceremony, Burke conferred an honorary doctorate on trustee chair and local resident James Mellor. Mellor expressed his appreciation for the honor from a school Burke told him is the Juilliard of […]