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Philanthropist Dorothy Leavey, mother of USC trustee Kathleen McCarthy, died Jan. 7 at her home in Beverly Hills. She was 101. Leavey was the widow of Farmers Insurance co-founder Thomas E. Leavey, who died in 1980. The Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation, established by the Leaveys in 1952, has donated more than $100 million to religious, health care, social service, civic and cultural organizations.
In 1988, a $9 million challenge grant from the foundation provided major impetus toward funding of a new teaching library on the University Park Campus.
“USC’s state-of-the-art Leavey Library, which was completed at a cost of $25 million, stands today as the cornerstone of the university’s library system,” said President Steven B. Sample. “Dorothy Leavey’s generous gift through the Leavey Foundation provides a bibliographic resource that will nurture the learning process for generations of researchers and scholars.”
Among other Leavey Foundation gifts to USC were a matching grant to assist in construction of an addition to the Law School; a gift to the Department of Nursing to support faculty research and clinical teaching; support for the Carl Mason Franklin Dean’s Chair in Law; and contributions to various scholarship endowments.
Beneficiaries of Leavey family largesse also included the Assistance League, for a family resource center in Hollywood; the Los Angeles Archdiocese, to replace St. Vibiana’s cathedral; and California Hospital Medical Center, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, Georgetown University, the Lincoln Training Center in South El Monte, the Los Angeles Music Center, Loyola Marymount University, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, St. John’s Hospital and the United Negro College Fund.
She was awarded honorary degrees by Georgetown University, Loyola Marymount University, Santa Clara University and USC.
DOROTHY RISELY LEAVEY was born in Omaha, Neb., and reared in Cleveland and Chicago. She spent part of her childhood in Butte, Mont., and graduated from the school of the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Lake Forest, Ill. After attending the University of Montana, she worked as a legal secretary in Southern California.
She met her future husband in 1928, when he and John C. Tyler were starting the Farmers Insurance Co. The Leaveys married in 1930.
Leavey is survived by her daughter, Kathleen, nine grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. The family has asked that memorial donations be made to one of the charities that she supported.
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