H. Ric Luhrs’ name is most well known for its association with the Luhrs Performing Arts Center. But as this year rolls around, there is more to the name H. Ric Luhrs than just the name of a building.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of H. Ric Luhrs’ death. This is a man who helped fund the building explained Luhrs Center director Leslie Folmer Clinton. He helped put up the 50 percent that the university needed to fund the performing arts center that was not being provided by the state. He also “provided more than $3.5 million to the SU foundation for the benefit of Shippensburg University, its students and the region.”

Clinton said that Luhrs and previous SU president Tony Ceddia went to similar performance centers in the area to help decide what they wanted the performing arts center to look like. It was because of this, along with his close friendship with Ceddia, and his generosity, that the new Performing Arts Center was named after H. Ric Luhrs.

Clinton also said that she knew Luhrs personally. He was very interested in the Shippensburg community. He wanted to use the Performing Arts Center to give people from the Shippensburg community a reason to visit the campus. Clinton also called Luhrs a “visionary,” since he was able to bring more attention to the university.

She also commented on the fact that it has been 10 years since Luhrs’ passing. She called it unbelievable that it has been so long. She can recall the day he died, a Saturday since one of SU’s football games was occurring. She also vividly remembers his memorial service, which was held in Memorial Auditorium.

Clinton also mentioned the fact that next year will be Luhrs Performing Arts Center’s 10th season of shows. She said while there was not too much hype around H. Ric Luhrs death, there will be events for the 10th running season of Luhrs Performing Arts Center that have yet to be planned.

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