Lowell Milken

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Lowell Milken
Lowell Milken.jpg
Milken in 2009
Born
Lowell Jay Milken

(1948-11-29) November 29, 1948 (age 73)
Encino, California, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley
UCLA School of Law
OccupationBusinessman, philanthropist[1]
RelativesMichael Milken (brother)
Websitelowellmilken.com

Lowell Jay Milken (born November 29, 1948) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and the co-founder and chairman of the Milken Family Foundation. He is also the founder of the TAP System for Teacher and Student Advancement as well as co-founder of Knowledge Universe, a provider of early childhood education. Milken is a former senior vice-president in the junk bond-trading operation of Drexel Burnham Lambert, headed by his brother Michael Milken.[3]

Lowell Milken has founded several more nonprofit organizations, including the Lowell Milken Family Foundation and the Lowell Milken Center. In 2000, he was named one of America's most generous philanthropists by Worth magazine.[4] As chairman of the Milken Family Foundation, he presents the Milken Educator Awards several times each year.

Early life[]

Lowell Jay Milken[5] was born on November 29, 1948, in Los Angeles and grew up in Encino, California.[6] He is the second son of Bernard and Ferne Milken; his older brother Michael was born in 1946 and a sister Joni born in 1958.[7] The family moved to the San Fernando Valley in 1953,[7] where Lowell attended schools in the California public school system including Hesby Elementary School in Encino, Portola Junior High School in Tarzana,[6] and Birmingham High School in Van Nuys.[8][9]

Milken graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from the University of California, Berkeley.[10][11] He earned a J.D. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif honor society and an editor of the UCLA Law Review.[12][11] Milken graduated in the top ten percent of his class at UCLA School of Law.[12]

Business career[]

After graduating from UCLA Law, Milken joined the law firm of Irell & Manella, where he specialized in business and tax law.[12][13] He spent four years working as an associate at the Los Angeles-based firm.[12] Milken particularly enjoyed and excelled at the tax-study lunches at Irell & Manella, where a senior attorney at the firm presented a complicated case and the lawyers in attendance attempted to come up with unique solutions.[14]

In 1979, he joined Drexel Burnham Lambert's High Yield and Convertible Bond Department, also known as the "junk bond" department.[15] His brother Michael Milken had moved the operation to Los Angeles the year before,[15][16] and he hired Lowell to serve as a departmental senior vice-president until he resigned in 1989. His duties were reported to be "mostly administrative", but he also provided financial analysis of companies.[15] Lowell was most interested in bankruptcies and distressed finances where he was able to utilize his tax policy experience from Irell & Manella.[17] He was not a registered representative with any securities exchange.[18]

In March 1989, after a long investigation, the government indicted Michael with 98 counts of racketeering and fraud. The indictment also named Lowell in two charges of racketeering and 11 counts of fraud.[19] Michael pleaded guilty and went to prison. As part of that deal, the government dropped charges against Lowell Milken,[20] but in March 1991, he was barred from working in the securities industry as part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.[18][21] It has been suggested that the government indicted Lowell in order to put pressure on Michael to settle the case against him, a tactic condemned as unethical by some legal scholars. "I am troubled by – and other scholars are troubled by – the notion of putting relatives on the bargaining table," said Vivian Berger, a professor at Columbia University Law School, in a 1990 interview with The New York Times.[22] In articles in the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times published in 1990, Lowell was characterized as an "unassuming family man" being used as a "bargaining chip",[20] indicted only to put pressure on his brother.[23]

In 1992, Lowell Milken funded $1.6 million to back a lawsuit against author James B. Stewart for a passage written in Stewart's book, Den of Thieves, which was about the insider trading scandals during the 1980s. In the lawsuit, Michael F. Armstrong, the criminal defense lawyer who represented Lowell Milken, alleged that the book wrongly accused Armstrong of preparing a false affidavit for a witness to sign to exonerate Lowell Milken. An Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in New York found that the passage concerning Armstrong and the affidavit were substantially true and dismissed the charges.[24]

Lowell later became chairman and a shareholder of Heron International, a real estate firm in London, England.[25] He acquired a majority interest in the company in the early 1990s.[26] Since the late 1990s, he has been chairman and a major investor in National Realty Trust Inc.[27]

In 1996, Lowell co-founded Knowledge Universe with Michael Milken and Larry Ellison.[28] In 2003, they became the sole owners of the company. In the United States, Knowledge Universe is the largest early childhood education company and operates under the KinderCare Learning Centers, Knowledge Beginnings, CCLC, The Grove School, Champions and Cambridge Schools brands.[29] Internationally, it oversees early childhood education, K-12 education and post-secondary education programs and is headquartered in Singapore. Lowell served as vice-chairman of Knowledge Universe Education and he is chairman of Knowledge Universe Education Holdings Inc.[30] In July 2015, Knowledge Universe Education was sold to Switzerland-based Partners Group for undisclosed terms.[31]

Philanthropy[]

Main article: Milken Family Foundation

Lowell Milken co-founded Milken Family Foundation in 1982 and serves as its chairman.[32] He also established the Lowell Milken Family Foundation in 1986 to support and provide funding for organizations and initiatives that strengthen communities through education and lifelong learning.[33]

He created the Milken Educator Awards in 1985.[34] First presented in 1987, the award program works with state departments of education to identify teachers, principals and education specialists who are improving student achievement, making significant contributions to a school's level of excellence and elevating the teaching profession.[35] As of 2017–18 school year, the National Milken Educator Network counts more than 2,700 educators among the recipients of the Milken Educator Award.[36]

In 1990, Milken founded the Milken Archive of Jewish Music, a project to preserve the music of the American Jewish experience.[37]

In 1999, Milken founded the TAP System for Teacher and Student Advancement, a comprehensive school reform currently impacting more than 250,000 educators and 2.5 million students across the country.[38][39] The system is based on four integrated and aligned elements: Multiple careers paths, continuous school-based professional development, instructionally-focused teacher evaluation, and performance-based compensation for educators.[40] In 2005, Milken founded an independent public charity to support and manage the TAP System, The National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET),[41] and has since served as its chairman.[42]

The Lowell Milken Center was established by Lowell Milken in 2007 in partnership with Kansas Milken Educator Norman Conard. The public nonprofit organization discovers, develops and communicates the stories of unsung heroes who have made a profound and positive difference on the course of history and includes a 6,000-square-foot museum space with permanent and rotating exhibitions.[43][44] In May 2016, the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes opened a museum in Fort Scott, Kansas.[45]

Milken has partnered with the Prostate Cancer Foundation to present the Lowell Milken Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award to scientists for work in the field of prostate cancer.[46]

The Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy was founded at UCLA School of Law in 2011.[47] In 2014, with an initial endowment of two million dollars from Lowell Milken Family Foundation, the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography was established at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California.[48] In 2017, Milken gave an additional $2 million gift to the Hoffmitz Milken Center.[49] In 2020, Milken gave a $6.75 million endowment from the Lowell Milken Family Foundation to UCLA to establish the Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience.[50] The center opened in January 2021 as part of the Herb Alpert School of Music.[51]

Awards[]

In 2000, Milken was named one of America's most generous philanthropists by Worth magazine.[4] His work in business and philanthropy has been recognized by the National Association of State Boards of Education, the Horace Mann League and the National Association of Secondary School Principals.[11]

During the 2004 event "Only in America: Jewish Music in a Land of Freedom", Milken was honored by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America for his contribution to Jewish culture in the creation of Milken Archive.[52] In 2009, the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles presented Milken with a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.[53] Milken was honored as one of UCLA School of Law's 2009 Alumnus of the Year for his accomplishments in public and community service, particularly in the area of education and school reform.[54]

In May 2015, Milken accepted an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Chapman University's George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics at Chapman University.[55] The Education Commission of the States honored Milken as the 2017 recipient of the James Bryant Conant Award.[56] The award is named for the co-founder of Education Commission of the States and former president of Harvard University, and recognizes outstanding individual contributions to American education.[57]

References[]

  1. ^ Merrow, John (2009). "Lowell Milken & $25,000 for Exceptional Teachers". Talking Note. Archived from the original on June 2, 2014.
  2. ^ "32. Lowell Milken". Los Angeles Business Journal. September 20, 2019. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  3. ^ Paltrow, Scot J. (September 8, 1988). "Lowell Milken's Role at Drexel Varied, Vague". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Adamson, L.; Albo, A.; Barrett, A.; Good, R.; Keating, S.; Pennell, A.; Silver, D.; Stewart, J. (April 2000). "The 100 Most Generous Americans". Worth. p. 140.
  5. ^ Fatsis, Stefan (April 16, 1989). "The Other Milken: Quiet, Unprepossessing, Indicted". The Associated Press. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Lowell Milken Biography". LowellMilken.com. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  7. ^ a b Kornbluth, Jesse (August 1, 1992). Highly Confident: The Crime and Punishment of Michael Milken. Morrow. pp. 34. ISBN 978-0-688-10937-0.
  8. ^ "High Tech High Learning Newsletter". January 2005. Archived from the original on May 4, 2006.
  9. ^ Madnick, Wendy J. (April 14, 2005). "A Brave New High School". Jewish Journal. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  10. ^ Frantz, Douglas (January 26, 1989). "Lowell Milken Is Much More Than Older Brother's Shadow". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  11. ^ a b c Gavel, Lauri L.; Rouche, Sara, eds. (Fall 2011). "$10 Million Gift Establishes Institute Advancing Business Law and Policy Gift serves as capstone of $100 million campaign". Ucla Law. 36 (1): 34.
  12. ^ a b c d Paltrow, Scot J. (September 8, 1988). "Lowell Milken's Role at Drexel Varied, Vague". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  13. ^ Kornbluth 1992, p. 53.
  14. ^ Kornbluth 1992, p. 53–54.
  15. ^ a b c Frantz, Douglas (January 26, 1989). "Lowell Milken Is Much More Than Older Brother's Shadow". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  16. ^ Kornbluth 1992, p. 51.
  17. ^ Kornbluth 1992, p. 54.
  18. ^ a b "Exchange Hearing Panel Decision 91-168" (PDF). NYSE.com. New York Stock Exchange. September 13, 1991. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  19. ^ "U.S. Sees New Milken Indictment". The New York Times. Reuters. August 1989. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  20. ^ a b Kristof, Kathy M. (April 21, 1990). "Milken's Guilty Plea: For Lowell Milken, Michael's Brother, the Case Is Closed". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  21. ^ "Milken's Brother Barred". The New York Times. Associated Press. December 4, 1991.
  22. ^ Eichenwalk, Kurt (May 6, 1990). "Tactics in Wall Street Cases Troubling Some Lawyers". The New York Times. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  23. ^ Eichenwald, Kurt (October 15, 1990). "Business and the Law; U.S. Treatment Of Milken Brother". The New York Times. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  24. ^ Carvajal, Coreen (September 24, 1999). "Milken-Supported Libel Suit Against a Writer Is Dismissed". New York Times. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  25. ^ "The World's Billionaires". Forbes. October 2, 2019. Archived from the original on October 2, 2019.
  26. ^ "Wealthiest Angelenos: 35. Lowelll Milken". Los Angeles Business Journal. August 28, 2017. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  27. ^ "32. Lowell Milken". Los Angeles Business Journal. September 20, 2019. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  28. ^ Pizzo, Stephen (September 10, 2011). "Master of the Knowledge Universe". Forbes. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  29. ^ Linda Baker (February 2011). "Knowledge Universe reaches $1.6 billion in revenue". Oregon Business. Archived from the original on February 7, 2011.
  30. ^ "Lowell Milken Co-Founder of Knowledge Universe – Knowledge Universe". Kueducation.com. Archived from the original on March 29, 2012. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  31. ^ Ottens, Cale (July 14, 2015). "Milkens Sell U.S. Education Business". Los Angeles Business Journal. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  32. ^ Spacek, Rachel (December 25, 2018). "Henderson teacher given coveted Milken Educator Award". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  33. ^ "LMFF The Lowell Milken Family Foundation". LMFF Lowell Milken Family Foundation.
  34. ^ "Lowell Milken: LA 500". Los Angeles Business Journal. July 30, 2018. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  35. ^ Rick Rojas (November 18, 2010). "Award stuns third-grade teacher". Los Angeles Times.
  36. ^ "Knoxville teacher one of two in Tennessee to win $25,000 Milken Educator Award". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  37. ^ "The Milken Archive of Jewish Music: The American Experience". Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  38. ^ "G. W. Carver Principal Latitia Johnson among educators to meet with US Education Secretary DeVos". Pelican Post – Online Newspaper. July 21, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  39. ^ "TAP's Impact". Tapsystem.org. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  40. ^ "the TAP system". Arizona State University.
  41. ^ "About NIET Chairman". niet.org.
  42. ^ "Aikin Elementary receives $5,000 national award". yourhoustonnews.com. March 12, 2012.
  43. ^ Silvers, Jason E. (December 17, 2009). "Fort Scott Tribune: Local News: Milken Center reaches all 50 states (12/17/09)". Fstribune.com. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  44. ^ Althoff, Eric (May 18, 2016). "Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes to open May 24 in Kansas". The Washington Times. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
  45. ^ Althoff, Eric (May 18, 2016). "New Kansas museum highlights history's unsung heroes". The Washington Times. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  46. ^ "Genome scientist Dr. Jay Shendure receives Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award". Washington.edu. April 15, 2010. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  47. ^ Lowell Milken Institute Website
  48. ^ Bond, Teri (June 2, 2017). "Lowell Milken Family Foundation Makes $2 Million Gift to ArtCenter College of Design for Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography". Pasadena Now. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  49. ^ "ArtCenter College of Design Receives $2 Million Gift". Philanthropy News Digest. June 11, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  50. ^ Di Mento, Maria (December 14, 2020). "A roundup of notable gifts compiled: University of California at Los Angeles". The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  51. ^ Tugend, Tom (January 20, 2021). "UCLA opens center for music of the 'American Jewish experience'". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  52. ^ Wenig, Gaby (January 29, 2004). "The Circuit: Milken's Music". Jewish Journal. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  53. ^ Rosensaft, Jean (April 6, 2009). "Lowell Milken to Receive Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Graduation Ceremonies". Hebrew Union College. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  54. ^ "Alumni of the Year: Nancy L. Abell '79 and Lowell Milken '73". Law.ucla.edu. UCLA School of Law. June 2009. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  55. ^ "05/23/15 George L. Argyros School of Business and Economics Commencement". ibc.chapman.edu. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
  56. ^ Phillips, Vicki (August 10, 2017). "A Conversation with Lowell Milken". The Line. Frontline Research & Learning Institute. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  57. ^ "Awards". ECS.org. Education Commission of the States. Archived from the original on June 19, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
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