Centennial Spotlight: H. Frank Dominguez

The billion-dollar Vanir Group of Companies was the culmination of the hard work and dreams of H. Frank Dominguez, who learned the value of education while growing up in San Bernardino. 

The San Bernardino Valley College Hall of Fame member attended Burbank Elementary School and Colton Union High School before enrolling at SBVC from 1957 to 1958. He served in the U.S. Army and met his wife, Gisela, while stationed in Germany, and returned to San Bernardino in 1964 at age 25. That was the year he started Vanir Group of Companies, which grew into a provider of more than $6 billion in real estate development, design-build leasing, and program, project and construction management services. 

Dominguez’s many involvements included the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, California Commission for Economic Development, advisory councils and committees for U.S. presidents, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the New America Alliance (NAA). He also made philanthropy a priority, emphasizing the need to help underserved youth and schools. 

To incentivize parents, he donated food baskets to his former elementary school, and encouraged countless students to put learning first and strive for success. Prior to his death in 2004, Dominguez declared that his own success "could only be measured by how much he gave to education," his daughter, Dorene, said. 

Dorene launched a foundation that became the Dominguez Dream Academy, which continues her father’s legacy by giving children "the ability to dream and plan for a better future," she said. Perhaps most fittingly, today there is an H. Frank Dominguez Elementary School in San Bernardino.