NORTHRIDGE >> An alumni couple from Cal State Northridge have given $5 million to its business school, pushing it over the top of a two-year campaign to raise $25 million.
The gift by accounting leader Harvey Bookstein and his wife Harriet was announced Sept. 22 at Beverly Hills a gala celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics.
To recognize the gift, university officials aim to rename the business school’s Juniper Hall in their honor.
“Every time you get near the students of CSUN and see how their eyes light up from the education they are getting, I don’t see how you couldn’t do something for the university,” said Harvey Bookstein, who graduated from CSUN with a business degree in 1970, at the gala.
“To see how different the students are from when they first get onto the campus to when they graduate — to see how much they have learned and grown — it’s amazing.”
Two years ago, businessman and philanthropist David Nazarian, founder and CEO of Nimes Capital, gave $10 to the CSUN business school and pledged to help raise another $15 million for the college. The Booksteins’ $5 million topped the thermometer on that fundraising goal.
In 2005, the couple had donated $1 million for the creation of the Harvey and Harriet Bookstein Chair in Taxation and the Bookstein Institute for Higher Education in Taxation.
Part of their latest gift will be used to support the business college’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program to give free tax-preparation services to the needy, university officials said. Another portion will create a Bookstein Leadership Endowment for strategic planning.
This year, Harvey Bookstein, a senior partner of national CPA firm Armanino LLP, received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the university. In 2009, he received its Distinguished Alumni Award, and is a recipient of its Dorothea “Granny” Heitz Award for Outstanding Volunteer Leadership.
“For years, Harvey and Harriet have invested their time, their energy and their resources to benefit CSUN’s business students,” CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison said. “This transformative gift is a legacy to their dedication to their alma mater and will benefit future generations of students.”
