USC News

Oldest Living Alum Turns 103

12/13/05
Emery Stoops, a recipient of the USC Distinguished Emeritus Award in 1993, is guest of honor at a USC Rossier School of Education luncheon.
By Norm Schneider
Dean Karen Symms Gallagher celebrates the occasion with Stoops and his wife.

Photo/Norm Schneider
The USC Rossier School of Education helped USC’s oldest living alum celebrate his 103rd birthday Dec. 13.

Emery Stoops, professor emeritus in the USC Rossier School and a recipient of the USC Distinguished Emeritus Award in 1993, was feted by Dean Karen Symms Gallagher at a luncheon held in Stoops’ honor.

Stoops taught at USC for 17 years before retiring in 1970. He then embarked on a second career in estate planning, life insurance and tax-sheltered annuities. He is the co-founder and president of the First Penn-Pacific Life Insurance Co. and served as a top-selling financial adviser and estate-planning consultant for the Aetna Life Insurance Co.

Stoops is a longtime supporter of USC. In 1994, he and his wife, educator Joyce King-Stoops, created a $1.25 million trust fund to establish the Emery Stoops and Joyce King-Stoops Chair in Educational Administration in the USC Rossier School of Education.

In 1996, an additional gift from the couple of $2.25 million – together with a $250,000 contribution from the Rita H. Small Charitable Trust – endowed the chair in perpetuity. The chair currently is held by Gallagher.

Stoops earned his Ed.D. in educational administration and supervision at USC in 1941. He taught English, speech and social studies in Whittier, Beverly Hills and Los Angeles high schools and held administrative posts in Los Angeles County public schools before joining the USC faculty in 1953 as a professor of educational administration and supervision.

The author of more than a dozen books and 60 magazine articles, Stoops served as an educational consultant to the U.S. Office of Education, the California State Department of Education and numerous school districts, including the L.A. Unified School District.

He was a visiting professor at a number of universities, including New York University, the University of Alaska, UC Berkeley, UCLA, the University of Denver, the University of Hawaii, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Washington.

Stoops is a member of the USC Associates, the university’s premier support group.