Renee '53 and Meyer '49 Luskin

Posted On - May 21, 2020


Renee '53 and Meyer '49 LuskinRenee and Meyer Luskin are UCLA’s distinguished Edward A. Dickson Alumni of the Year for their generosity and support in making the world a better place. Together, Renee and Meyer have shaped UCLA’s greatness for nine decades, transforming UCLA through their many gifts benefiting students, families, communities and institutions around the globe – from the Luskin Conference Center and Luskin School of Public Affairs, to their support across campus from the sciences to healthcare and humanities and the arts. They have mentored UCLA’s next generation of leaders with their scholarships and encouraging talks, and motivate the current generation of leaders to even greater heights of generosity and support for UCLA.

The Luskins are alumni, benefactors and lifelong friends of UCLA. Meyer Luskin, chairman and chief executive officer of Scope Industries, which recycles bakery waste to make an animal-feed ingredient. He attended UCLA on a scholarship, completing his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1949 after a break for military service during World War II, and Renee Luskin earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1953. The Luskins have transformed their success with an extraordinary generosity of spirit and resources to help UCLA impact countless lives.

The Luskins received the UCLA Medal in 2019, the university’s highest honor, at a reception at the conference center bearing their name followed by an engaging symposium inspired by their deep commitment to education and social justice. Chancellor Gene Block said, “What drives Meyer and Renee is precisely what drives UCLA: a desire to solve society’s biggest challenges and to create opportunity for all through education and research.”

Countless UCLA students have benefited from scholarships funded by the Luskins, and the couple’s legacy can be seen across the campus – The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin School of Public Affairs, the Legal Ethics program at UCLA Law, the Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership and the Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLA Luskin. Meyer co-chairs the UCLA Centennial Campaign Cabinet and serves on the Campaign Executive Committee. He previously served on The UCLA Foundation Board of Directors, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Luskin School of Public Affairs and the Luskin Center for Innovation. The School of Public Affairs provides the resources to further its research efforts and expand educational opportunities for students in the fields of public affairs, public policy, social welfare and urban planning. The UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center, which opened in 2016 in the heart of campus, bring people together to explore new ideas for generations to come.

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