February 10, 2013 | Read Time: 1 minute
Amount donated in 2012: $26.8-million
Top beneficiary: University of Southern California
Background: Mr. Schaeffer is the founding chairman and CEO of the national health-insurance company WellPoint and its predecessor, Blue Cross of California.
Leonard Schaeffer, 67, and Pamela Schaeffer pledged $25-million to the University of Southern California in continued support of the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, established in 2009. Mr. Schaeffer serves as chairman of the Center’s Advisory Board and is also a member of the Board of Councilors for the USC Price School of Public Policy. Additionally, Mr. Schaeffer holds an endowed professorship at the university, where he teaches courses on health-care leadership and management.
“Our nation faces grave health and fiscal challenges. The time was right to support this center because its rigorous, independent, and interdisciplinary research provides the foundation for designing effective policies to address these issues in both the public and private sectors,” said Mr. Schaeffer in a written statement.
The Schaeffers also pledged $1-million, of which $500,000 has been paid, to the Cape Cod Healthcare Foundation; $500,000 to Mr. Schaeffer’s alma mater, Evanston Township High School, in Ill., to create science, technology, engineering, and math labs; and $250,000, of which $55,000 has been paid, to Princeton University in support of student scholarships. Mr. Schaeffer graduated from Princeton in 1969 with a degree in economics.
