People in Your Neighborhood: La Jollans Dianne Bashor, David Malcolm to be honored as Champions of Scouting

Two La Jollans will be recognized along with the late Father Joe Carroll as Champions of Scouting during a Sept. 18 celebration on the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum at San Diego Harbor.

Dianne Bashor and David Malcolm will be honored for their support of the San Diego-Imperial Council of the Boy Scouts of America by way of a $1 million donation to build a camp facility for Scouts in San Diego County’s South Bay.

The event was planned before Carroll’s death July 10 at age 80.

“Father Joe agreed to be honored after declining requests from other organizations for more than a decade. The Boy Scouts was special to him and he fully intended to be at the event,” said José F. González, Carroll’s executor. “As his health failed, he repeatedly and adamantly insisted the event go on as planned. This was literally one of his last wishes, so it goes without question that we will respect it.”

But honoring Carroll came with one condition — the event had to honor Bashor and Malcolm as well.

“I had been with on the board of Father Joe’s Villages [a San Diego-based homelessness and poverty assistance organization] for 31 years,” Malcolm said. “When I asked him if we could honor him … with this event, the only way he allowed it was if the event honored me and Dianne.”

Carroll was “a Scout himself and spent decades as their chaplain,” Malcolm said, so the program was of particular importance to him.

“Knowing that Father Joe agreed to be recognized for all he has done for Scouting, I was honored to join him,” Bashor said. “I just wish he could be there with us.”

According to a news release, Bashor and her late husband, businessman Jim Bashor, have given significant gifts to many local institutions, including the San Diego Zoo, San Diego State University and the San Diego-Imperial Council of the Boy Scouts. Dianne Bashor made the lead gift of $1 million for a camp to be named Camp Bashor at Otay Lakes County Park in Chula Vista, which will be available for Scouts and other local not-for-profit organizations. It is the first Scouting facility in the South Bay area.

As president of the Bashor companies, Malcolm has advised Bashor on possible donations and negotiated the terms.

“What we loved about the Camp Bashor idea is that the minority communities of the South Bay don’t have ... the park and recreational facilities that other parts of San Diego has for its citizens. This brings a great new facility to the South Bay. It’s right next to the Olympic training facility, so those facilities can be used by those at camp,” Malcolm said.

Camp Bashor is expected to open at the end of September.

“We want to leave San Diego a better place than when we came, and kids are the future,” Malcolm said. “If we don’t give our kids the opportunity to stay out of trouble and create that good environment, then shame on us. We want to help kids become future leaders.

“We are really looking forward to this event, which will also be the first time the organization will celebrate female Eagle Scouts [the highest rank available in Scouting]. We think that is a fantastic thing that women are becoming Eagle Scouts. A lot of presidents, senators and CEOs of companies around the country are Eagle Scouts, so we like the fact that they develop leaders and teach morals ethics.”

Learn more at championsofscouting.org.

People in Your Neighborhood shines a spotlight on notable locals we all wish we knew more about. If you know someone you’d like us to profile, send an email to robert.vardon@lajollalight.com. ◆