Wine Spectator's Shanken passes; foundation gift kick-started fundraising for WBI's home
Marvin R. Shanken, the longtime editor and publisher of Wine Spectator whose scholarship foundation made a $3-million lead gift to help create what is now the Wine Spectator Learning Center at Sonoma State, died Oct. 29. He was 83.
Shanken bought Wine Spectator in 1979 when it was a struggling bi-weekly newspaper with a circulation of about 5,000. Over the next five decades, he turned it into one of the most influential wine publications in the world, with a circulation surpassing 75,000.
Shanken started the Wine Spectator Scholarship Foundation in the early 1980s. It has to date raised more than $75 million for education and scholarships, including support for students and programs at UC Davis, Washington State University, Cornell University, the Culinary Institute of America, and Sonoma State.
In 2014, the foundation committed $3 million to Sonoma State toward construction of a facility for the university’s Wine Business Institute. “Sonoma State University has taken a leadership position in wine business education, a specialized but important field that deserves support,” Shanken said at the time. “The potential benefits to the wine industry are enormous. We are pleased to be able to help the university and its students achieve their goals.”
"Marvin Shanken is a seminal figure in the history of Sonoma State University and its wine business program," SSU President Michael E. Spagna said upon Shankman’s passing. "The commitment made to SSU through the Wine Spectator Scholarship Foundation changed the landscape for our wine programs and the university, helping create a world-class facility for students, faculty, staff, and the community.
"We are honored to continue sustaining his vision for wine education, and grateful to be part of his enduring legacy as an entrepreneur and philanthropist."
The 15,000-square-foot Wine Spectator Learning Center is organized around three focal areas: an education core with three classrooms; a student commons with areas for collaboration and student-run businesses; and an industry center with space for professional and academic faculty and program leadership.
The Wine Business Institute was founded in 1996 and was the first academic program in the United States to offer degrees focused exclusively on business aspects of the wine industry. Programs like the Executive MBA in Global Wine Business and the Bachelor of Science with a concentration in wine business strategies prepare students and industry professionals on topics such as accounting and finance, wine sales, and marketing.
Construction of the $11-million center, on the site of what had previously been the University Commons, began in 2015 and concluded in 2018. A ribbon-cutting and grand opening was held in May 2018.