leader at Levi Strauss, Haas tried to create a corporate culture in which tens of thousands of employees around the world were treated fairly and well. In addition, the company led the way in addressing a range of social and business issues. In 1982, the company became the first prominent business to become involved in addressing the problems of HIV/AIDS, at the time a largely unknown disease. Under his leadership the company pioneered corporate standards for dealing with HIV-positive employees and created employee AIDS awareness programs. Since the early 1980s the Levi Strauss Foundation has donated over to AIDS-oriented non-profits. In 1991 Haas was the first person to be awarded the Edward N. Brandt Jr. Award from the National Leadership Coalition on AIDS for his significant efforts in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the workplace. In 1992, Levi Strauss became the first Fortune 500 company to extend health-care benefits to the unmarried partners of its employees, starting the acceptance of this practice by other leading companies. In that same year the company published the first-ever corporate standards governing the treatment of employees in contractor factories around the world. Since then, these guidelines have been largely adopted by the apparel and footwear industries. Philanthropy Active in support of his alma mater, he endowed the Haas Scholars Program at Berkeley, which funds financial aid eligible, academically talented undergraduates to engage in a sustained research, field-study or creative project in the summer before and during their senior year at Berkeley. Each year, twenty Haas Scholars are selected from all disciplines and departments across the university on the basis of the merit and originality of their project proposals. He was a member of Berkeley's Board of Visitors, national giving chair for the Campaign for Berkeley, a board member of the Haas School, and, in 2007, the recipient of the Chancellor's Award. In 2008, Berkeley established the Robert D. Haas Chancellor’s Chair in Equity and Inclusion in his honor. He serves as a trustee of the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, a San Francisco-based private family foundation established in 1953 with the goal to form a righteous and supportive society that offers basic rights and opportunities to all people. Haas joined the fund's board of directors in 1992 and currently serves as chair of the audit committee. He is a former member of the Trilateral Commission, trustee of the Ford Foundation, member