Pepperdine Law Lands $50 Million Donation and a New Name
Los Angeles real estate developer and Pepperdine Law alum said he hopes new funding for scholarships and loan repayment assistance will help low-income and underserved law students pursue their passions.
October 23, 2019 at 12:11 PM
2 minute read
Pepperdine University School of Law.
Pepperdine University School of Law has landed one of the largest single donations to a law school on record.
Los Angeles developer and Pepperdine Law alum Richard Caruso on Wednesday announced a $50 million gift to his alma mater, with the funds going toward student scholarships and loan repayment assistance for low-income and underserved students. Additionally, Caruso and his wife, Tina, have pledged to help raise another $50 million over the next decade to endow that financial assistance and ensure it's available for the long term. The school is being renamed the Pepperdine University Rick J. Caruso School of Law in recognition of the gift.
Caruso's $50 million law school donation looks to be among the five largest in history. James E. Rogers' 1998 gift of $115 million to the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law remains the largest, followed by a $100 million gift from the Pritzker family to Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 2015. Chapman University received $55 million from Dale Fowler in 2013, while Drexel University's law school received $50 million from attorney Thomas Kline in 2014.
The Carusos are longtime philanthropists in the Los Angeles area, having given $150 million to the University of Southern California and other education, arts and public safety groups, according to the LA Times. But the Pepperdine law gift is the single largest the couple has ever made. In addition to funding scholarships and loan repayment, the law school will use some of the money to hire more faculty and increase research.
"If I get a bunch of these really smart lawyers who understand real social justice and real fairness in life, and you put them back into the system, I think it's a game changer," Caruso told the Los Angeles Times.
Richard Caruso graduated from the Malibu law school in 1983 and now heads up Caruso Affiliated, one of the largest privately held real estate companies in the United States. The couple's son, Alex, also graduated from the law school in 2017.
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