Former Synopsys CEO makes game-changing gift to Levitt Pavilion effort

Former Synopsys CEO Aart de Geus is providing a major boost to the effort to bring a permanent Levitt Pavilion stage to downtown San Jose with a $500,000 donation that will also pay tribute to a friend and fellow musician.

A gift that size comes with naming rights for one of the stage’s spaces and de Geus has opted to name the green room — where performers wait before their show — after Chris Wilder, the former Valley Health Foundation executive director who suffered a massive stroke in 2021.

Wilder said he’s thrilled by the gesture, but not a bit surprised.

“Aart is extremely generous, and he also wants to make San Jose and Silicon Valley a better place for the arts, especially music,” Wilder said. Having his name on the green room also is special to Wilder since he sees it as a place not just for relaxation but where creativity among different artists can germinate as they spend time together.

Wilder and de Geus have been connected through music for years. They met when Wilder — then board chair of San Jose Jazz — invited de Geus, a guitar player, to take part in a CEO jam session that was part of the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest. A couple of years after that, they formed a blues band called Legally Blue, with de Geus on guitar and Wilder on bass.

De Geus credits Wilder for helping revive his love for music, something he had basically repressed while he was building Synopsys into a Silicon Valley powerhouse.

“For many years, I had made a big mistake, which is when building a company I had told myself, ‘There’s no time for music, no guitar, no nothing.’ ” de Geus said. “And, in hindsight, it was probably true; there was no time. But it’s still the wrong answer. I should have done something.”

Suzanne St. John Crane, director of strategy for Friends of Levitt Pavilion San Jose, said de Geus is a great example of a member of the Silicon Valley community stepping up to help bring to reality the decadelong dream of a permanent stage at St. James Park. Construction on the venue, which also will receive funding from the Levitt Foundation, is expected to start next summer.

“These are folks that are event producers and musicians and music lovers from San Jose, who live here, that are going to build this thing together,” she said. “It’s not very often you get to be a part of something from Day One that’s going to have generational impact. I appreciate Aart’s leadership here as someone in tech and has prominence as a CEO stepping up to do this.”

De Geus also says he hopes his gift helps inspire more investment — and not just in Levitt Pavilion San Jose.

“The one thing that’s sort of a bit mysterious about Silicon Valley is there’s such so much money here,” he said. “And so many engineers are fantastic musicians. And yet, the investments in the arts — not just music, but in the arts in general — is relatively minimal for the sophistication and the standard of living of the leaders in this area.”

HELPING THE HUNGRY: More than 600 volunteers gathered Friday at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, where they packed more than 220,000 meals that will be distributed to local families in the South Bay through Second Harvest of Silicon Valley. This is the third year the 9/11 Meal Pack Event has taken place in San Jose, one of the 51 large-scale volunteer events taking place on the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Before the big Patriot Day ceremony downtown, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan stopped by to help pack meals, donning a plastic hair cap that didn’t quite match his dark blue suit. Mahan has participated in the event all three years and said it was a good way for everyday people who aren’t first responders to help be part of the community safety net.

“Not all of us are called to that line of work or have the courage for it. And yet I’m inspired every day by the smaller, more ordinary acts of service I see San Joseans take on,” Mahan said.

SPIRIT OF ’76: Instead of celebrating the revolution events of 1776 like everyone else this year, the Campbell Museum Foundation decided its fundraiser would pay tribute to a different revolutionary time: 1976. “Groovin’ in the Garden: A ’70s Flashback Fundraiser” will be doing the hustle on Sept. 26 at the historic Ainsley House Carriage House and Garden.

As you’d expect, guests are invited to wear retro attire like bell-bottomed jeans, some of which may be back in style these days. There’ll be a disco dance party, and even the appetizers are said to be 1970s-inspired, which may mean a lot of cheese balls, devilled eggs and Jell-O salads. Tickets are the groovy price of $76 each, and you can score all the 411 at campbellmuseums.com.

MUSIC NOTES: If you’ve already got tickets to see Ice-T at next Saturday’s Music in the Park show in downtown San Jose, you’ve got a pleasant surprise coming: The West Coast rap legend is going to be joined by E-40, another huge name in the genre. Dan Pulcrano — who is the maestro of Music in the Park these days, in addition to publishing Metro Silicon Valley — tells me it is the first time the two have been on the same bill.

Alternative hip hop producer Lyrics Born, whose first studio album, “Later That Day,” made Rolling Stone’s list of the 200 greatest hip-hop albums of all time, will open the show at Plaza Park. Friday’s show will feature Common Kings, along with Sammy Johnson and Western Conference, and a Kids Day in the Park will close out the weekend on Sunday. Go to www.mitpsj.com for ticket information.