Don Lucas, whose Lucas Dealership Group was a dominant force in the car sales business for decades, died Monday night at age 83. But his legacy goes far beyond the cars his dealership sold, especially for San Jose State University and several Silicon Valley nonprofits and arts groups.

Lucas and Sally, his wife of more than 60 years, were both graduates of San Jose State, and Lucas opened his first used-car lot — House of Hardtops — just a few blocks from campus on San Carlos Street during his junior year. It proved to be the start of something big: A few years later, he opened his first dealership, Sunnyvale British Motors, and was off to the races. At its height, the Lucas Dealership Group comprised nearly 40 dealerships in Northern California and Hawaii. He sold them in 2000 and turned his attention to giving instead of selling.

Don and Sally Lucas donated $10 million to San Jose State in 2006; at the time it was the largest individual donation SJSU had received and the Donald and Sally Lucas Graduate School of Business was named in their honor. The couple remained strong Spartans boosters: Don was a former chair of the prestigious Tower Board, and both served as co-chairs of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library Committee and both were conferred with honorary doctorates by the university in 2012.

The couple also established the Sally and Don Lucas Artists Residency Program at Saratoga’s Montalvo Arts Center, where Sally Lucas was the first woman to be president of its board. The couple championed programs for the arts and underserved youth, giving generously to the Children’s Discovery Museum, the YWCA of Silicon Valley, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the San Jose Museum of Art.

There will no doubt be memorials and celebrations of Lucas’s life from the many organizations touched by his business leadership and his generosity. That’s what happens when you have a lasting impact on a place the way Don Lucas did.

WHAT’S NEW AT NUMU: New Museum Los Gatos will showcase two recently opened exhibitions, “Waterlines” and “Art & Environment: The Paintings of Andrew P. Hill” at its Winter Celebration on Saturday. The festivities, which run from noon to 4 p.m., will also mark the unveiling of the new Los Gatos History Gallery, an interactive space that explores the town’s past through art.

Artist Andrea Borsuk, who created the murals tied to the themes in the gallery, will be on hand with NUMU History Curator Amy Long to introduce the space to visitors at 2 p.m. Other events during the celebration include collector Chuck Bergtold talking about some of the items he contributed to the Andrew P. Hill exhibition; Los Gatos artist Marie Cameron sharing some of her process in insight about her mixed-media art in the Waterlines exhibition; and NUMU Art Curator Marianne McGrath introducing “Wave and Architecture,” a large bronze and steel sculpture by Bay Area artist David Kimball Anderson, which is the first installation in the museum’s outdoor sculpture garden.

There also will be hands-on art making activities in the NUMU Maker Space to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. Get more details at www.numulosgatos.org.