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UF Law Namesake Fred Levin Donates Additional $6 Million to College

Fred Levin (left) celebrates with Dean Laura A. Rosenbury (right).

The University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law has received a new gift from namesake Fredric G. Levin (JD 61) in honor of his late wife, Marilyn Kapner Levin. The gift of stock has a current value of $6 million and will be used to fund student scholarships.

Martin H. Levin (JD 88) announced the gift on March 27, 2019, during a ceremony recognizing the 20th anniversary of the $10 million gift that named the College of Law in 1999. At the time of that transformative gift, UF Law was ranked 47th in the nation and 22nd among public law schools. Today, the Levin College of Law ranks 31st overall and 12th among publics.

“Today, I’m proud to announce that my father has just made another gift to this law school. It’s 300,000 shares in a publicly-held company and as of last night’s close, the gift is valued at $6 million,” Martin Levin said. “My father is making that gift in honor of my mother.”

With this latest donation, the Levin family’s contributions to UF Law have totaled more than $20 million. Their generosity has enabled the law school’s endowment to grow from $28 million in 1999 to more than $108 million today.

“We are incredibly honored and humbled by the ongoing support of Fred Levin and his family,” said Laura A. Rosenbury, Dean and Levin, Mabie & Levin Professor of Law. “The $10 million gift in 1999 was the largest private contribution to any law school at the time, and the Levin family’s generosity has helped propel the Levin College of Law to where it is today. This new gift of $6 million will be used to support our amazing students, enabling them to enter the careers of their choice without significant debt.”

Martin Levin said that his father’s contributions will help students who may not otherwise have the opportunity to attend law school.

“Dad says we must provide those opportunities to others,” Martin Levin said during the celebration. “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.”

The event included remarks from a number of alumni and university leaders. View photos from the 20th anniversary celebration and watch the full event online.

See highlights from the 20th anniversary of the naming gift of Levin College of Law.

Published: April 17th, 2019

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.