Longtime Vanderbilt University supporters Robert M. Levy, BA’72, and his wife, Diane, have announced a new gift of $10 million to continue support for their scholarship fund, which provides need-based aid to undergraduate students as part of Opportunity Vanderbilt, the university’s initiative to meet 100 percent of students’ financial need without loans.
“Bob and Diane Levy helped lay the groundwork for what ultimately became Opportunity Vanderbilt with their initial scholarship fund in 1997,” says Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos. “We are truly grateful to them for this new gift and for their unwavering dedication to Vanderbilt’s ambitious goal of providing financial aid to talented students from all backgrounds.”
The latest financial commitment, made as a bequest, will extend support to diverse undergraduate students at Vanderbilt through the Diane v.S. Levy and Robert M. Levy Scholarship.
“My wife and I are proud to support Vanderbilt’s efforts to make diversity and inclusion a priority through this Opportunity Vanderbilt scholarship fund,” says Levy, retired chairman of Chicago investment firm Harris Associates L.P. “I think to have a great institution, you want to include and offer opportunity to a wide spectrum of people who bring both academic strengths and diverse cultural perspectives. It’s all-encompassing.”
To date, the Levy Scholarship has supported 15 Vanderbilt undergraduates.
—RYAN UNDERWOOD, BA’96