06/05/2021
It has been one year since the passing of our founder, John Van Arsdale. Thank you for this beautiful tribute.
“Recreation and Tourism Management), founding director of CSUN’s Aquatic Center at Castaic Lake, died on June 5, 2020. Van Arsdale joined the recreation and tourism management faculty at what was then San Fernando Valley State College in the 1960s.
“John shaped the Aquatic Center and kept it robust for many years, and he developed relationships with loyal funding sources long before the university had directors of development,” Nathan Martin, the center’s current director, wrote in a tribute. “Because of his work, the center has received many awards for boating and water safety. It is also a source for fun and safety in water recreation for local communities and underserved youth from the cities who, because of programs at the center, get the chance to spend a day at the lake that often begins a lifelong relationship with CSUN and the outdoors.
“He was an exceptionally kind man who will be missed terribly,” Martin added. Van Arsdale was also famous in the department and among boating and water sports educators for his appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated on May 21, 1962, as a model and spokesman for the growing sport of waterskiing.”
