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THROUGH A PLANNED gift of real estate, longtime business partners Easton and Miriam Roberts and Niles and Sheila Gates have made the first major endowment to a family advocacy center in the country.
The Roberts/Gates gift will create an en-dowment of more than $850,000 for the USC Violence Intervention Program, which provides comprehensive services for victims of child abuse, elder abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault.
Co-owners of a commercial property in the City of Commerce, both couples wanted to dispose of an asset that would incur a hefty capital gain if sold privately.
“My brother, Burton, has given to USC for many years, and both of our daughters are alumni with degrees in education,” said Easton Roberts ’34, L.L.B. ’36. “I got my first job through the USC Placement Center. So it was only natural that I started thinking of USC.”
Although the other partners weren’t as closely connected to the Trojan Family – Miriam Roberts and Niles and Sheila Gates are all UCLA alums – “To us, it seemed like the right thing to do,” said Miriam Roberts. “There is so much violence in this world that has to be dealt with. We are happy to make a difference.”
Astrid Heger, associate professor of clinical pediatrics at USC and director of the university’s Violence Intervention Program, was “astonished and profoundly moved” by the gift.
“These wonderful people saw the importance of this program and wanted to make safer families and communities a part of their legacy,” she said.
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