Ernest and Esther Carlson Scholarship

How often do you find two brothers whose love for each other is strong enough to make them lifetime business partners? To what do you attribute that kind of loyalty and success? Perhaps it’s the upbringing they have had from their parents. That is the likely possibility in the story behind the Ernest and Esther Carlson Scholarship.

Ernest and Esther Carlson were very active members of Angelica Lutheran Church, a strong Swedish congregation in Los Angeles. In fact, Ernie’s parents had been charter members of Angelica. When Ernie first heard that Dr. Orville Dahl had started a college in Thousand Oaks, he encouraged his son-in-law, Bob Samuelson, to become a Founding Fellow of CLC. That was the start of an amazing chain of events that would place Bob Samuelson’s imprint on almost every area of the CLU campus.

The relationship between Bob and his brother Jack was one of fairness, respect and equity. Jack was a supporter of Occidental College; Bob’s involvement was with Cal Lutheran. As a result, both campuses benefited substantially from their financial stewardship. The Centrum, one of the first construction projects on CLU’s campus, was built by Samuelson Brothers, followed by the Mt. Clef dorms, Samuelson Chapel, Samuelson Aquatics Center and many other projects. Bob also served on CLU’s Board of Regents for many years.

In 1991, the two brothers decided to honor Bob’s father- and mother-in-law, Ernie and Esther, in the most definitive way possible—through a scholarship that would provide financial support for all four years at CLU (or five, for a teaching credential candidate). They designated the scholarship for a student recipient who must be a Christian, active in his/her congregation, who cannot attend CLU without scholarship assistance. Bob and Jack designated the Carlsons’ daughters—Bob’s wife Doris and her sister Barbara—to be the caretakers of the Ernest and Esther Carlson Scholarship. Bob continued his service to CLU up until 2007, when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer. He died the next year.

Few supporters have had this great an impact on CLU as the Samuelson brothers. As parents and in-laws, Ernie and Esther Carlson were the solid undergirding and inspiration of the relationship between the brothers and their wives who together contributed so much to the growth of Christian higher education.