Caltech Mourns the Loss of Eli Broad, 1933–2021 May 01, 2021
Eli Broad, founder of SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home, former member of the Caltech Board of Trustees, and a Life Member of the Caltech community passed away on April 30, 2021. He was 87 years old.
An entrepreneur, civic leader, and philanthropist who earned distinction as a patron of Los Angeles, Broad was an influential advocate for and generous benefactor of life sciences research, public education, and the arts. Throughout his life, he worked to create and foster new businesses, education organizations, scientific research institutions, and museums.
At Caltech, Broad s commitment was most evident through his enduring leadership on the Caltech Board of Trustees and his longstanding and continued investments in the Institute. In partnership with his wife Edythe, Broad donated more than $40 million to the biological sciences at Caltech through the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. Their generosity helped to establ
Barbara M. Barrett Re-elected to Caltech Board of Trustees April 23, 2021
During Ambassador Barbara Barrett s two-year hiatus from the Board of Trustees, she led the traditional Air Force and stood up the new Space Force. The Department of the Air Force organizes, trains, and equips 697,000 active duty Guard, Reserve, and civilian Airmen and Space Guardians, and executes a $205 billion budget.
Elsewhere in government, Barrett was ambassador to Finland, deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, and vice chairman of the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board. In business, she was an executive of two global Fortune 500 companies, global CEO of the American Management Association, and chairman of the board of the Aerospace Corporation. In academia, she taught leadership as a fellow at Harvard s Kennedy School and served as interim president of Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Caltech announced Friday that it would remove the name of its founding president and first Nobel laureate, Robert A. Millikan, from campus buildings because he supported eugenics joining universities across the nation in repudiating those who joined the racist movement a century ago.
“It is fraught to judge individuals outside of their time, but it is clear from the documentation presented that Millikan lent his name and his prestige to a morally reprehensible eugenics movement that already had been discredited scientifically during his time,” Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum said in a statement. “The renamings will help position the Institute to retain and attract the most talented and innovative researchers from every background, so we may remain a leader in science and technology.”
"Renaming buildings is a symbolic act, but one that has real consequences in creating a diverse and inclusive environment. It is an act that helps define who we are and who we strive to be."