Destination: The Future
AN INITIATIVE TO ELEVATE USC ENGINEERING

Daniel J. Epstein Industrial and Systems Engineering Department

Naming Gift is the Largest for a USC Academic Department

San Diego real estate manager, developer and entrepreneur Daniel J. Epstein has given the University of Southern California $10 million to help turn the same department in the School of Engineering from which he graduated with honors in 1962 into one of the elite in the nation.

"I couldn't have achieved what I have without the education in industrial and systems engineering I received at USC," said Epstein who is chairman and chief executive officer of the ConAm Group of Companies, a real estate organization operating in about 250 cities in 17 states. "USC has really been important to me and giving back to USC in a meaningful way fulfills a lifelong dream."

USC School of Engineering Dean C.L. "Max" Nikias said it is the largest-ever naming gift to either a USC academic department or to any other American university industrial and systems engineering department. He expressed the University's and his own deep gratitude to Epstein and his wife Phyllis.

"Dan is a true Trojan who cares about USC, about the School of Engineering and, most of all, about his own academic department," said Nikias. Nikias said that the School has renamed its department the "Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering" in his honor and that its annual management award will henceforth bear the title of the "Daniel J. Epstein Engineering Management Award."

The gift will go into the School's endowment fund. Some monies will be allocated to establish two named chairs to be filled by new top-tier senior faculty and to recruit new junior faculty for the department.

In 1996, Epstein joined the advisory committee for the Industrial and Systems Engineering Dept. becoming chair three years later. When Nikias was chosen as the new engineering dean last year, Epstein said he was captivated by the new dean's plan "to lift USC into the ranks of the nation's elite engineering schools by raising up individual departments."

"This is not just about becoming good; it's about becoming the best. That's clearly the journey Max has begun," said Epstein.

Epstein is a member of the USC Board of Trustees and the board of councilors for the School of Engineering. He serves on the executive committee of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate Development, the board of governors of the USC Alumni Association and is a member of the USC Presidential Associates. He received the USC School of Engineering Alumnus Award in 1994.

Before founding ConAm in 1975, Epstein was the executive vice president of American Housing Guild, a residential development firm. His early career included positions with national and international construction firms working on projects such as the vertical assembly building for the Saturn rocket at Cape Canaveral, the Pauley Sports Pavilion at UCLA and a Voice of America radio station in the Philippines. He built apartment complexes in Dallas, Texas, for the I.C. Deal Co.

Based in San Diego, ConAm is among the country's top 10 apartment management/ownership firms operating about 50,000 apartments throughout the United States. ConAm is also developing apartments and other mixed-used projects in San Diego and Sacramento.

A dinner celebrating Epstein's generosity was held the evening of March 20, 2002, at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. Nearly 300 people attended, including USC President Steven B. Sample, several trustees and some 60 family members and life-long friends. After President Sample, Dean Nikias and Epstein spoke, a USC engineering professor who is also a concert pianist -- Elaine Chew -- entertained the crowd with several pieces.

Epstein, who grew up in West Los Angeles, lives in La Jolla. His daughter Julie and son Michael are both USC graduates.