Lynda and Stewart Resnick Give UCLA $100 Million for Psychiatric Care

Los Angeles billionaires Lynda and Stewart Resnick gave UCLA Health $100 million through their Resnick Foundation to expand mental and behavioral health services at the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, and to back the completion of the hospital’s new home.

The hospital was named for the Resnicks in 2005 when they donated $15 million to build it.

The couple co-founded the Wonderful Company, the food and beverage giant responsible for products like Wonderful Pistachios, POM Wonderful juice, and FIJI Water, and it owns Teleflora and other companies. They are longtime donors to charity and have appeared on the Chronicle’s Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors four times since 2008.

The new hospital is scheduled to open in the fall and will include a wing designed to help medical staff better diagnose and stabilize patients experiencing acute behavioral health crises.

Other Recent Big Gifts Include:

Providence Heart Institute

Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny, gave $75 million to support a range of efforts at the institute and at its affiliate, Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. The Knights have given the Portland, Ore., institute nearly $200 million over the last 10 years. They have given huge sums to many other organizations over the years and have appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list 11 times since 2006.

Michigan State University

Larry Leinweber pledged $50 million through his Leinweber Foundation to establish the Leinweber Center for Engineering and Digital Innovation. It will house career development, education, and research programs in fields including data and materials sciences, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, space electronics, and esports. Leinweber founded New World Systems Corporation, a Troy, Mich., software company that provides city and county governments with planning and public safety software.

Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute 

Neil Bluhm gave $50 million through his Bluhm Family Foundation to expand cardiac care across Northwestern University’s nine hospitals and to support research programs, fellowships, and other efforts. Bluhm gave an initial gift to launch the institute in 2005. He has given the nonprofit a total of $135 million including this latest donation. Bluhm co-founded JMB Realty Corporation, a real-estate investment firm in Chicago.

California State University Long Beach

Hing and Doris Hung gave $30 million to support and endow the engineering school, which will be renamed the Hung Family College of Engineering. Hing Hung emigrated from China in the 1970s and earned a bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly Pomona and then a master’s degree from Cal State Long Beach in 1985. He went on to co-found the Mercury Security Corporation, a technology company that he sold in 2013.

University of Texas at El Paso 

Miguel Loya gave $30 million to establish and endow the Miguel A. Loya Scholarship Program, within the newly named Miguel A. Loya College of Engineering. The program will award full tuition, room, board, and monthly stipends to incoming engineering students who qualify. Loya is the former head of the North American arm of the Vitol Group, an oil trading company in Houston. He was the first in his family to attend college. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the university in 1977 and an M.B.A. from Harvard in 1979.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.