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Fredric G. Levin Donates $40 Million to UF Levin College of Law

University of Florida Levin College of Law Namesake Fredric G. Levin Donates $40 Million as Part of Estate

GAINESVILLE, FL – World-renowned trial lawyer and philanthropist Fredric G. Levin has given the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law an additional $40 million as part of his estate.

College namesake and champion Fred Levin (JD 61) passed away in January 2021 at the age of 83 following an extraordinary life and career. With this generous estate gift, the Levin family’s lifetime contributions to the University of Florida total more than $60 million.

This transformative gift will enable the Levin College of Law to build upon existing strengths by recruiting and enrolling talented and diverse students from across the globe, attracting world-class faculty, expanding academic and clinical programs, and ensuring graduate success through robust career preparation.

“We remain deeply humbled by the longstanding generosity of Fred and his family,” said Laura A. Rosenbury, Dean and Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor of Law. “UF Law has made tremendous progress because of the financial support of the Levins and the support of other donors who have been inspired by the Levins’ generosity.”

In 1999, UF Law was named in Levin’s honor after his unprecedented gift of $10 million – the largest current use gift in the university’s history at that time. The Levin family continued to support UF Law and UF in the years that followed. In 2019, Fred’s son Martin Levin (JD 88) announced yet another gift from Fred – 300,000 shares of stock valued at $6 million – during a celebration honoring the 20th anniversary of the naming of the college.

“Dad says we must provide those opportunities to others . . . he says that the future leaders – those who are going to make a difference – in all likelihood are not going to be the wealthy, the privileged, but someone we’ve never heard of. Someone who’s worked their way up,” Martin Levin said during the celebration.

The $40 million Levin estate gift will continue to provide opportunities to students by supporting scholarships for highly credentialed incoming students, funding public interest stipends for students doing unpaid summer work at nonprofits and government entities, and growing the HBCU Pathway to Law Endowment, which provides scholarships to graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities enrolling at UF Law.

“I am extraordinarily grateful for the financial support of Mr. Levin,” said Hakeem Everett (JD 24), a recipient of the HBCU Pathway to Law Scholarship. “Because of my scholarship, I will graduate with little debt, strong alumni connections, and a great preparation for my future career.”

The estate gift will also ensure that the Levin College of Law is broadly recognized as one of the nation’s top law schools.

“Dad loved UF Law, and he loved seeing how his contributions made the law school a better place for students, faculty, and alumni,” Martin Levin said. “Our goal is to help UF Law achieve its strategic priorities and maintain its rightful stature among the nation’s very best law schools.”

UF President Kent Fuchs emphasized that Levin’s contribution also sustains the university’s stature as a leading public research institution.

“The incredible generosity of Fred Levin and his family will ensure the Levin College of Law is one of the nation’s top law schools at a Top 5 public university,” said President Fuchs. “On behalf of the university, we are immensely grateful to Fred and the Levin family for their ongoing support.”

To learn more about Fred Levin’s life and legacy and his generous support of UF Law, view the law school’s tribute page.

Published: November 4th, 2021

Category: News

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The Florida Constitutional Law Endowment in memory of Justice Ben F. Overton was created by Judge Karen Miller in 2013. This fund supports lectures and presentations by Justices of the Florida Supreme Court at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

HISTORY

Justice Overton, who earned his B.S. in 1951 and his Juris Doctor in 1952 from the University of Florida, was the first merit appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Throughout his career he was active in legal education and served as an Adjunct Professor at the Levin College of Law through December 2012, the month of his death. Although he resided at Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, a continuing care retirement community developed in cooperation with UF, he also considered the Florida Supreme Court “home.” Among the high points of his later years was hosting Justices of the Florida Supreme Court in Gainesville and taking his class to Tallahassee to hear oral arguments at the Florida Supreme Court.
Judge Miller, who earned her B.S. cum laude from New York University in 1974 and her Juris Doctor from New York Law School in 1977, served as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, New York City’s business regulatory agency, before she retired to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida. Having accompanied Justice Overton on his excursions to Tallahassee and joined him in welcoming guests to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, she created the endowment in memory of Justice Overton to ensure that the Levin College of Law continues to have the funding necessary to continue and enhance the interaction between its students and the Florida Supreme Court.

 

Judge Miller remembered the event that motivated the endowment.

 

Prior to a dinner at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and Lisa Jerry shortly after Justice Overton’s death, Justice Barbara Pariente and I were discussing a suitable memorial. Justice Pariente, who had been Justice Overton’s colleague on the Florida Supreme Court and who understood the importance to him of the interaction between his students and the Court, suggested the outline of what has become the Overton lectures. Dean Jerry, who has since retired, as has Dean Emeritus Jon Mills, who assumed responsibility for implementing the Overton lectures, were very supportive from the beginning. Since Dean Mills’ retirement, Professor Timothy McClendon, who assisted both Justice Overton and Dean Mills teaching Florida Constitutional Law and who co-authored the recent Florida Constitutional Law casebook, has continued the Overton lectures with the support of Interim Dean Merritt McAlister and CGR director, Professor Danaya Wright.

Justice Overton was a devoted jurist, educator, and ethical leader of the Florida legal profession. The Overton Lecture Series brings Florida Supreme Court Justices to the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, and serves to introduce students to the inner workings of the Court. CGR and the students of the College of Law extend our deepest gratitude to Judge Karen Miller for making the Overton Lectures possible in perpetuity.

You can watch an interview for the Florida Historical Society by Mary Adkins, professor emeritus of the UF Levin College of Law, with Justice Overton here.

Justice Overton was also interviewed for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Project and a transcript of his interview is available at the Smathers Library, and here.
Justice Overton sat on the Constitution Revision Commission of 1977-78 that proposed a right to privacy in the Florida Constitution. Although it failed as part of the Constitution Revision Commission recommendations, it passed in 1980 when proposed by the legislature. The bill was co-sponsored by our very own Jon Mills. The privacy provision prevailed by greater than 60%. Justice Overton then wrote a concurrence in a critical reproductive rights case in 1989 affirming that the privacy provision of the Florida Constitution included the right to obtain an abortion. That decision was overruled in Planned Parenthood of SW and Central Florida v. Florida. You can read about the role of Justice Overton, Jon Mills – director emeritus of CGR, and the history of the 1989 case here.