Countywide : Fund-Raiser Resigns From Arts Center

The chief fund-raiser for the Orange County Performing Arts Center will resign effective Sept. 12, the third executive to resign in recent weeks, center officials announced Wednesday.

Richard Tripp, 54, vice president of development, will leave to pursue “other career interests . . . perhaps outside the field of fund-raising,” according to a prepared statement. Tripp was not available for further comment, but a center spokesman said Tripp’s departure was a personal decision and not related to the other resignations or the arrival of new Executive Director Tom Tomlinson.

The center’s top two administrators, Thomas R. Kendrick and Judith O’Dea Morr, announced earlier that they will retire as of Sept. 30, although they remain under contract as consultants for five years.

The center, operated entirely with private donations, has experienced increased difficulties in raising funds, which board members have attributed to the county’s economic slump. Fund raising in 1992 totaled $4.5 million, down 13% from the previous year. The center still finished the year with a surplus because of reduced expenses.

In his written statement, Tripp said that fund raising at the center this year is “well on target with more than $3 million already committed toward a year-end goal of $5 million in contributed income.”