Elaine Otter Leventhal, 97, philanthropist and volunteer, died August 15, 2015. In 1940 she earned a bachelor’s degree in History from UCLA. She then enrolled in secretarial training at the Wright MacMahon Secretarial School, and in an advanced accounting course at UCLA. She and her husband, Kenneth built their business, Kenneth Leventhal & Co., which grew into a major firm specializing in real estate and complex reorganizations. In 1995, they endowed the USC School of Accounting and it was renamed The Elaine and Kenneth Leventhal School of Accounting. In the 1960's she became involved with the L. S. B. Leaky Foundation, founded by Louis and Mary Leaky. Later, when the members of the Foundation split, Elaine continued to support and volunteer for the Institute of Human Origins, an offshoot of the Foundation. She has been a board member for over forty years of ASU’s Institute of Human Origins and was actively serving in that capacity at the time of her death. In 1989 she earned a master's degree in liberal arts from the USC Graduate School. She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from USC in 2000. Preceded in death by her husband, Elaine Leventhal is survived by two sons and a grandchild. Services were held August 26, 2015 at Mount Sinai Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills. Contributions may be made to The Institute of Human Origins at ASU, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, or USC's Leventhal School of Accounting.

(Source: ASU Foundation)