school loan payments for ten years for low-income and other underserved students. In October 2019, he donated $50 million to Pepperdine School of Law, which was renamed in his honor. The gift is directed to historically underrepresented students as well as to students pursuing public interest law. University of Southern California Caruso's daughter, Gianna "Gigi" Caruso, was born with hearing loss and was treated at USC's Keck School of Medicine. In 2015, Caruso and his wife Tina donated a further $25 million to USC, to endow and name the USC Tina and Rick Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery. The Caruso Catholic Center and Our Savior Parish Church on the USC campus was endowed by and named after Caruso following his contribution of $9 million. In 2018, Caruso was elected Chairman of the USC Board of Trustees. On February 15, 2022, he announced that he would be resigning from the position. As the chairman of the USC Board of Trustees, Caruso has faced criticism for his handling of the George Tyndall USC sexual abuse scandal, in which a USC gynecologist spent 30 years molesting hundreds of patients, despite complaints dating back to 1991. In May 2018, Caruso promised an independent investigation and an accompanying public report, but no report on the investigation has been made public. Recognition In 1995, Caruso was named Alumnus of the Year by Pepperdine School of Law. He was named by the Los Angeles Business Journal as "Developer of the Year" and its 2012 Ernst & Young LLP Master Entrepreneur of the Year. He has lectured on real estate issues at the Kennedy School of Public Administration at Harvard University, the USC Price School of Public Policy and the Milken Institute Global Conference. He has been a guest panelist for the International Council of Shopping Centers. Personal life Caruso and his wife, Tina, have four children: Alex, Gregory, Justin, and Gianna. They live in the affluent Brentwood section of Los Angeles. All four children have attended the University of Southern California, which their father attended and to which he has donated millions of dollars. Caruso is a devout Catholic. References 1959 births 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American businesspeople Candidates in the 2022 United States elections American billionaires American chief executives American real estate businesspeople American Roman Catholics American people of Italian descent Businesspeople from Los Angeles California Democrats California Independents