Flora L. Thornton
Born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1913 and educated at Texas Tech, Flora Laney Thornton was a painter, a singer and a lover of arts, culture and music. She founded the Flora L. Thornton Foundation in Los Angeles in 1982 following the death of her husband, Charles B. ("Tex") Thornton. Tex was a legendary American businessman who founded Litton Industries. Together, they were deeply involved in local philanthropic efforts that grew over the years. Upon her death in 2010, Flora Thornton endowed her Foundation with a large portion of her estate so that Thornton family philanthropy would be able to continue on into future generations.
One of her primary goals was to create a vehicle for family members to stay engaged and work together. In fact, trustee field visits sometimes become family reunions with non-trustee family members invited.
“Flora forever changed the artistic landscape of Los Angeles, first as a role model and secondly as a philanthropist.”
— Robert Cutietta, USC Thornton School Dean