With non-cash gifts growing in popularity among donors and philanthropists, the Palm Beach State College Foundation has received a major donation of Russian art from real estate management consultant Gary Dario of West Palm Beach.

The gift includes over 1,700 lithographs by pre-eminent Russian artists from the last quarter of the twentieth century whose work was shown internationally. Included in the collection are works by Kandinsky, Chemaikin, Okshteyn and Zlotnik. Dario’s donation is specifically intended to support Palm Beach State’s arts and humanities program; The College Foundation has embarked upon a $15 million fund-raising initiative for the humanities program at the College’s four locations in Boca Raton, Lake Worth, Palm Beach Gardens and Belle Glade.

Dario recently joined the board of the Palm Beach State College Foundation, whose mission is to support programs and initiatives of the College. Pat Lord, major gifts director for the Foundation, said Dario’s gift establishes “a legacy of support for our arts and humanities programs. As a part of the Foundation’s assets, the gift will help to reinforce our mission. The Darios’ generosity will make the Foundation a more inviting prospect for other donors."

Mr. Gary Dario - Biography

Mr. Gary Dario is the current owner of EH Building Group and several related affiliated companies in West Palm Beach. Mr. Dario is responsible for developing and maintaining all banking and financing relationships for these companies, which include the procurement of a $500,000 operating line of credit, as well as obtaining $25,000,000 in credit facilities to purchase land to build up to 250 residential homes per year.

Prior to his work in building and construction, Gary worked with Comcast Communications Corporations in Broward County and Paxson Communications Corporation in Palm Beach County. He worked with Cox Enterprises, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia and Cox Cable Santa Barbara, Inc. in Santa Barbara, California where he:

• developed and maintained financial, accounting, budgeting and job cost tracking systems
• was responsible for annual budgets, cash flow forecasting, treasury functions and financial statement preparation
• was responsible for human resources, sales, marketing and customer relations, and operations

As a graduate of Florida State University with a bachelor in science degree in Finance, Gary is also a Certified Public Accountant. While under the employment of Coopers and Lybrand & Company, he performed financial and operational audits for public, private and non-profit organizations.

Gary and Jan (wife of 13 years) have lived in West Palm Beach for 13 years. They have a son, Justin, who is currently attending junior college in California. Jan has been a Technical Supervisor for Adelphia in West Palm Beach for 10 years and has over 20 years experience in the cable industry.