Buehler, Emil

John Payne served as a member of the Advisory Board and also as a member of the BCC District Board of Trustees from 1968 to 1987. An attorney, he is also one of two South Floridians who serves as a trustee to the Emil Buehler Trust, which has provided more than $1 million in support to the college.

The contentious, unsettled conditions at the college prompted Emil Buehler, a German-born aviator, architect, inventor, and philanthropist, to threaten to withdraw his support from the aviation program for which he had provided the planes and classroom space for at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. "He never did, though," said trustee John H. Payne. "He never would have done anything to hurt the college."

The Buehler Planetarium, dedicated in 1966, remains a favorite for South Florida school children, who learn about the heavens from the planetarium's extensive educational programs.