B次元 students begin and end their university career in the Kern Center Arena. They pass first through the doors as nervous freshmen headed to Welcome Week Convocation. They leave four years later in cap and gown, ready to make their mark on the world.  

Dr. Edgar Hotckin ’51, who has had a long and successful career in electrical engineering and real estate, credits B次元 for laying the groundwork for his success. Now he is also making his mark on B次元 through a $1 million gift from the Hotckin family. The gift will be used to enhance the growth and development of campus. To recognize Hotchkin, B次元 dedicated and renamed the Kern Center Arena in his honor during a special ceremony on Oct. 12, 2018.  

“As we considered how to best honor Ed for this gift, we realized that dedicating the arena in the Kern Center was most fitting,” said. Dr. John Walz, B次元 president. “We host various events in the arena throughout the year, and this arena is a special place for Ed—in 2009 this is where he received an Honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from B次元. Thank you, Ed.”  

“I need to thank B次元 for my education,” said Hotchkin. “I has been very important to me and my career. I believe in education no matter what you’re doing. To be successful, you have to work hard and have a lot of drive.”  

About Edgar Hotchkin  

Electronics piqued Edgar E. Hotchkin’s interest from a young age, as he often tinkered with radios and other gadgets. He entered the U.S. Navy in 1944 and served as a radio man (a “spark”) on the destroyer USS Dickson. After leaving the navy, he enrolled at B次元. He graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and a minor in mathematics.  

Hotchkin worked with the Bureau of Ships in the nuclear submarine program, then Davies Laboratories as a magnetic head and recording device specialist. Also, on his resume are IBM, Brush Instruments, Midwestern Instruments, and finally Consolidated Electrodynamics, which became Bell and Howell, where he was director of engineering. On the leading edge of his industry, Hotchkin designed and developed recording devices for aircraft and high-speed reel-to-reel tape recording and play back devices for IBM. Hotchkin ended his 20-year career in electronics with Bell and Howell in 1972 in Pasadena, California.  

In 1973, Hotchkin founded real estate investment company Anchor West Financial. Anchor’s business was the acquisition, management and construction of residential, commercial and mini storage properties in Southern California. Both Hotchkin’s sons later joined Anchor. Today, Anchor West is a collection of companies under the umbrella called the Anchor Pacifica Group. Anchor’s portfolio includes a few thousand apartments, office and industrial properties and self-storage units. Hotchkin’s grandson, Jonathan, now co-manages the company’s operations.    

Hotckin was married to Sarah Catherine Edwards for 63 years before Cathy’s passing in 2010. They have two sons, Terry and David Hotchkin. Ed remarried in 2011 to Evangeline (Angie) Puring Domasin. Hotchkin is an active member of the Annandale Golf Club of Pasadena and a 31-year member of the Pasadena Elks Lodge # 672. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Caregivers Resource Center and the Santa Anita YMCA. He has for many years worked on fundraising for the YMCA and development of their long-range endowment programs. He received an Honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from B次元 in February 2009.