The Performing Arts Center Eastside has received $500,000 pledged by Janine Fortin Florence and her husband, Alex Florence, to the Campaign For PACE.

Janine has been a member of the PACE board of directors since 2004 and this is the second gift she and Alex have made to the campaign. Janine’s parents, Lavern and the late Eleanor Fortin, also pledged an additional $500,000 through the Fortin Family Trust, making a total gift of $1 million. This brings the fundraising total for the Campaign For PACE to $31 million.

The Fortin family is well-known on the Eastside for its role in co-founding the Quality Food Centers (QFC) chain of supermarkets with partners Jack Croco and Lloyd Mitchell (Eleanor’s father) in the 1950s.

Lavern and Eleanor Fortin got their start in the food business in 1940 when they founded Vernell’s Fine Candies. Later they sold the business to Van de Kamp Bakeries. Fortin was president of Van de Kamp Bakeries and chairman of the board of its parent company from 1956 to 1965.

Daughter Janine Fortin Florence is president of Property Development Corporation, a company also founded by the Fortin family. Alex Florence co-founded Alfa Chemicals, Ltd. in London, and served as its chairman and managing director until 1991 when he sold his interest and moved to Bellevue.

The family ties to the Eastside began when Janine Florence’s grandfather, Lloyd Mitchell, purchased Monte Villa Farms in Bothell in the 1930s. Today, the land is the Quadrant Monte Villa Business Park. The Fortin and Florence families now have four generations of family living and working on the Eastside.

“I’ve been involved in the quest to add a larger performing arts venue on the Eastside for a long time,” Janine said. “Our family feels the addition of the arts strengthens the entire community. In fact, my mother (who passed away in January) and I talked about our support for PACE in one of our last conversations.”

John Haynes, executive director and CEO of PACE, noted that with a population and footprint that would make it, if consolidated, the 35th largest American city, the Eastside is developing into a complete community – “as culturally diverse as Seattle and defined by a quality of life that is both urban and accessible.”

Performing Arts Center Eastside will be a 2,000-seat premier regional center for the performing arts.