Ziman donates $1 million to UCLA real estate center

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Los Angeles real estate investor Richard S. Ziman has agreed to donate another $1 million to the UCLA Anderson School of Management, Dean Judy Olian said Monday.

Half of the $1-million gift will create the Richard S. Ziman Fellowship to support students in master’s, doctoral or post-doctoral studies in real estate. The remaining $500,000 will be invested in the Richard S. Ziman Center Fund in support of the real estate center’s needs, such as funding faculty research and career counseling for students.

The Richard S. Ziman Center for Real Estate was named in appreciation of Ziman’s $5-million gift to the center in 2001.

‘Dick’s gift to support students comes at a critical moment in time, when many of our qualified applicants and students have been hit hard by the economic downturn and may be unable to afford their education,’ Olian said.

Ziman, 66, is a graduate of crosstown rival USC but a longtime supporter of UCLA.

‘I strongly believe that, as a public university, UCLA Anderson has a responsibility to educate our community and advance our society though superlative research across all disciplines,’ Ziman said. ‘I chose to leave my legacy at UCLA and through the Ziman Center because I know this is a place where these objectives are met.’

Ziman, a former real estate lawyer, has developed a reputation for impeccable timing after three decades of buying, selling and developing commercial real estate in Southern California. Ziman founded Los Angeles-based Arden Realty Inc., once the region’s largest office REIT. It was sold when the market was near its peak in 2006 to General Electric Co. for $3.2 billion. He is now chairman of American Value Partners, a real estate investment fund based in Los Angeles.

-- Roger Vincent