Legacy of Sarasota Student Funds Booker Artist Program

Students in the Booker High School Visual and Performing Arts TV/Film and Guitar programs will benefit from the generosity of parents who are honoring the memory of their son. Over the next three years, funds totaling $36,000 will be donated to the two programs from the John H. Lamensdorf Memorial Trust, a school district press release said.

On May 23 Booker High celebrated John H. Lamensdorf Day in the VPA TV/Film Studio. Guitar students performed on new instruments purchased with funds from the trust. Film equipment purchased with the same funds was used to create the student film that was shown directly after the performance. The release said Kathy Lamensdorf, John’s mother and the trustee for the trust, told students how they can apply for scholarships for music and TV/film production camps and other artistic opportunities.

John Lamensdorf was a Sarasota native and a graduate of Pine View School who earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2009.

Less than two weeks after graduating from NYU he was assisting a fellow student on his senior thesis film. Lamensdorf died when lighting equipment struck overhead power lines, the release said. The John H. Lamensdorf Memorial Trust was created to insure that student filmmakers, musicians, writers and literature lovers would be able to take advantage of educational opportunities. Booker High’s TV/Film and Guitar programs were selected as beneficiaries because of Lamendorf’s passion for both artistic mediums.

If you want more information about Lamensdorf’s life, the John H. Lamensdorf Memorial Trust and the scholarships it funds is on the web at www.johnlamensdorf.com.