website: http://www.ucla.edu/

In 1998, the Wassermans made a $10-million gift to UCLA that included one of the largest donations ever designated for undergraduate education. Most of the gift—$8.75 million—endowed the Edith and Lew Wasserman Fund for Undergraduate Support at UCLA, which provides scholarships for promising undergraduates in the College of Letters and Science and across the campus. The donation was a leadership commitment to Campaign UCLA, the campus wide fund-raising effort launched in May 1997. Lew Wasserman was an honorary Campaign co-chair and a member of the Campaign Cabinet. The Wassermans have been friends and benefactors of UCLA since the 1960s, when they became acquainted with former Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy. They established the Edie and Lew Wasserman Film Production Fellowships in 1992 and the Edie and Lew Wasserman Scholars Endowment in 1994 to broaden opportunities for exceptional students. In shaping their most recent gift, the Wassermans were inspired by the letters they receive each year from UCLA students whose scholarships and fellowships are funded by the couple’s earlier donations. Overall, the Wassermans have given over $20 million to UCLA over the years, of which roughly half have been scholarship funds.

The Wassermans also provided funds to establish the the Wasserman Professorship in Ophthalmology in the Jules Stein Eye Institute is testament to Lew Wasserman’s deep interest in vision research—a passion inspired by Jules Stein himself. Stein was a board-certified ophthalmologist who founded Music Corporation of America (MCA) in 1924. Several years later, Lew Wasserman joined MCA, eventually succeeding Stein as chairman of the board. In 1960, Stein created the Research to Prevent Blindness Foundation. Wasserman later succeeded Stein as chairman of the board of the foundation and was a founding member of the Jules Stein Eye Institute’s Board of Trustees.

Currently, Casey Wasserman sits on the UCLA School of Public Affairs Advisory Board.

In total, about 100 students per year receive Wasserman Scholarships.

Click Here to view the video presented to the Wasserman Family
at the Wasserman Scholars Luncheon in February 2005.

For information on how to become a Wasserman Scholar, you must contact the school’s admissions office directly.