Robert A. Day, the longtime leader of the W.M. Keck Foundation whose vision was instrumental to the growth of USC and the well-being of Los Angeles, passed away Sept. 14 at age 79.

A businessman, investor and philanthropist, Day profoundly changed the course of USC, its medical school, the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Keck Medicine of USC. The Keck Foundation advanced programs that continue to improve health and education for countless people in Los Angeles and across the world. Under Day’s leadership, it drove the transformative naming gifts for USC’s medical school in 1999 and its health system in 2011.

Day’s contributions are visible every day in the university’s hospitals, clinics, research labs and classrooms. A key example is the provision of grants for urgently needed research such as studies to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic and the danger it posed to patients.

To read the University of California’s full obituary, click here.