Glorya Kaufman arrives at the USC Kaufman School 10th annniversary celebration in May. (USC Photo/Greg Grudt)

The renowned arts patron created and endowed the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance.

Glorya Kaufman, a USC Life Trustee and internationally celebrated arts patron whose historic gift created and endowed the USC Kaufman School of Dance and its landmark instructional building, the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center, died peacefully surrounded by family and friends on Aug. 5.

Kaufman had a lifelong love for and involvement with dance, believing in its potential to heal the body, mind and spirit of people, as well as build connections across socio-cultural boundaries. The nonprofit Glorya Kaufman Foundation, which she founded in 2008, has supported world-renowned dance and art programs and nurtured children through dance at community organizations such as L.A.’s Inner-City Arts, Covenant House California, Mar Vista Family Center, and most recently at Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services with the opening of the Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center in 2023.

When launched in 2012, USC Kaufman was the first new school to be established at USC in nearly 40 years. With ambitions of becoming the most elite dance school on the West Coast and on the Pacific Rim, the school opened in fall 2015 with 33 students in its inaugural class. The school’s home on the USC University Park Campus, the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center, opened a year later.

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