Meyer Luskin and his wife, Renee, are donating $100 million to UCLA, the university’s second largest gift in its history, Chancellor Gene Block announced Jan. 26.
Half of the donation will pay for endowments, research and teaching at the UCLA School of Public Affairs, 40 percent will help finance construction of the new Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center on the Westwood campus, and the remaining 10 percent will fund the college’s Luskin Endowment for Thought Leadership, which will support academic conferences and an annual lecture.
Luskin, 85, who lives in Brentwood, praised the School of Public Affairs, which offers graduate-level degrees in public policy, urban planning and social welfare.
“The School of Public Affairs is something I strongly believe in,” Luskin said during a phone interview.
A UCLA alumnus, Luskin is president and chairman of Scope Industries, a Santa Monica-based firm that turns bakery waste into animal feed.
Luskin said he hopes his donation will help finance solutions to critical issues “regarding the education of our populace, problems in the field of energy sustainability, environmental sustainability, traffic [and] our water supply.”
