The Cassata High School library will be converted to the Phil Record Media Resource Center this summer in memoriam of former TCU journalism professor Phil Record, Cassata administrators said.

Cassata principal Nancy Martin said Record was an active board member at the school for several years and had helped the school in many areas.

“Phil touched so many people,” Martin said. “There is such an outpouring from his life of people wanting to do something to honor his memory.”

According to the Daily Skiff, Record died of a heart attack this past November at the age of 81. Record worked at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for more than 40 years and taught Media Ethics at TCU.

Martin said honoring Record by naming the new media resource center after him was a perfect fit because the conversion would be all about media and journalism.

Heather Parker, the director of development at Cassata, described the school as a second chance school that caters to high school dropouts, former juvenile offenders and any student not best served by a traditional school.

“At Cassata we have this huge need to redo our library and update our technology,” she said.

Martin said the new media resource center will be home to new computers, a journalism lab and a “go center” to help students continue their educational career.

Bob Schieffer, a current CBS broadcaster and longtime broadcast journalist, was a close friend to Record for most of Record’s life.

“Phil Record taught me most of what I know about journalism and a lot of what I know about life,” Schieffer wrote in an e-mail. “He was first my mentor, then my boss, and for more than 50 years, my close friend.”

Charlie Fenske, also a close friend of Record, said Record introduced him to Cassata and the mentorship program.

Fenske said he was a mentor to a student who graduated in December.

Fenske described Cassata as a wonderful environment for students.

“You’ve got some very exceptional situations with kids that are in need,” he said.

Parker said there would be new opportunities for TCU students to tutor and work with students at the school after the renovation is completed.

“I’m really hoping that this center will be an opportunity for our schools to grow even closer together,” she said.

Martin said the renovation will begin in the next few months.

“We hope to start it as soon as school is out, which would be like June 1, and have it ready to go by the start of school next year,” she said.

The project is estimated to cost between $80,000 and $100,000, Martin said.

Parker said funding for the project would come from friends of Record through gifts in his memory. She added that Schieffer had also donated a gift in memory of Record.