Donor Bradley Gillian at podium with PGCC’s Dena Wilson discussing the need to make certain the next generation is educated.

Gillian Family Donates Art, $10,000 To Prince George’s Community College: ‘It’s Important That We Educate Our Kids’

By Tiffany Young and Raoul Dennis // PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAOUL DENNIS AND AMIR STOUDAMIRE

It was the love for people and the love of art that Bradley Gillian always admired about his late wife Lorraine. To keep her spirit alive, Bradley recently decided to donate artwork valued at over $150,000 to Prince George’s Community College (PGCC).

For years, the couple has contributed to the local college located in Largo, MD believing that education is the key to making a difference in their community.

“The artwork was just something I liked to look at. It was never that I was really into it that much, but she loved it,” Gillian said of his departed wife, Dr. Lorraine Gillian whose profound interest in history and art led to the growth of a valuable collection. Over the years, the couple grew and maintained the collection at their home but since Dr. Gillian’s passing, Bradley began to give thought to the next best home for them. For him, the answer was as bright as one of the many paintings in the collection.

“It wasn't difficult for me to do what I did, except for the kids in my trust, they all wanted one each. But I knew that if I died, that that was going to be a problem. [So] I decided to donate it here because this is our school, this is our community college,” Gillian said.

The opening night unveiling of the works was held at the Prince George’s Community College’s’ Performing Arts Center Oct. 19. The elegant presentation was attended by nearly 70 art and culture enthusiasts, historians, educators and friends and family members of the Gillian clan. Speakers and leadership included Dr. Clayton Railey, Executive Vice President and Provost, TLSS Brenda Mitchell, Executive Director (who served as host), Office of Institutional Advancement; Nicole Currier, Dean, Humanities, English and Social Sciences; Dr. Iyelli Ichile, professor of African American Studies and Mr. Bradley Gillian (donor of the African American art).

Chef Duriel Barnes, a graduate of Prince George’s Community College and working as The Chosen Chef, provided an array of hors d’oeuvres and an astonishingly refreshing custom blended lemonade and fruit punch.

It was no coincidence that the Gillians’ selected PGCC: for them, education is at the center of everything having to do with the well being and success of future generations of African American people.

“I decided to donate the artwork here because this is our school, this is our community college. It's important that we educate our kids,” Gillian said. “My wife believed in nothing but education. That's why people come out to see her artwork.”

Bradley spoke passionately about his own commitment to education. He says it was his own education at Howard University that shaped his future as a successful real estate manager.

“I was running from Nam,” he says of his days in the late 1960s. “They were trying to draft me. I believed that there was nobody in Nam that I knew that said anything bad about me like Muhammad [Ali] said and who called me a nigger, none of them. I didn't want to go over there and I did everything I could to avoid it.”

But what helped him to avoid the draft was much closer than an option to go to Canada. Gillian was marked 4F because of a hearing issue and soon went to college. While at the podium announcing his donation, he remarked that the decision altered the arc of his life and that it is imperative the same is done for the next generation.

“It's important that we educate our kids. You know that. We've got to keep them out of jail, we've got to keep them from doing dumb stuff.”

With that, the Prince Georgian resident made an additional $10,000 donation to the college.

“We don’t all have to make this kind of step but we can all do something,” he said of the amount of donation.

Married to Bradley for more than 40 years and in private practice for 35 years, Dr. Gillian treated patients in Prince George's County and Washington, DC. Popular within her community, Lorraine and Bradley were consistent with their spirit of generosity for years. Giving to PGCC was their way to help the college offset the challenges of college students. Many colleges and universities around the country are grateful to its alumni and donors for supporting students during the pandemic. Bradley credits his wife for teaching him how to be kind to people and to give.

“I was married to my wife for 48 years and never saw her talk down to anybody. That's a person who believes that the way you treat people is how you want to be treated,” he said of Lorraine. “She left a tremendous burden on me, but such a good one. I enjoy every second of it because this keeps her alive.”