Tye Veden - Mertorious Service

The Man once known as “Mr. Glendale’’ doesn’t seek out the spotlight but would rather function as part of a team for the many social and service clubs that he has been part of in Glendale for the past several decades.

One of the greatest benefactors of his service has easily been Glendale College, where his association as a student began in 1949.

That year when Charles “Tye” Veden was a student at Glendale Junior College, the area that made up the campus on the corner of Mountain and Verdugo looked quite a bit different than it does today. Lush grounds and impressive new buildings have replaced the notion of that school, which was known as a junior college, to the one today that serves thousands of students with a vision of serving a community of learners.

Veden’s mark is seen in many different ways from the early beginnings of the Glendale College Foundation where he was a founding member in 1983,to his help in developing the El Vaquero Raquet Club and later serving as the first chairman of the GCC Athletic Hall of Fame, where he is being honored asa 2018 inductee for meritorious service.

“The influence of Tye Veden and his commitment and dedication to Glendale College can be seen everywhere around the campus,’’ said Ann Ransford, current member of the GCC Board of Trustees and former Executive Director of the Foundation. “Just look around and you see projects that he helped get off the ground and scholarships that he helped fund that really made a difference in the mission of the college.’’

Ransford herself saw firsthand how effective Veden could be after she was hired in 1986 to run the Foundation, which was also the year that he was its President. He helped lead the project that saw the development of the El Vaquero Racquet Club that has developed into a successful funding source since it started in 1991and most recently, the implementation and development of the athletic hall of fame which has become a major fundraiser for athletics since it started in 2001.