Couple invested $50 million in L.A.'s neediest kids and it made them richer
Melanie Lundquist, a philanthropist from Palos Verdes Estates, stood in the hall near the principal’s office at Santee Education Complex near downtown Los Angeles.
Jaden Pitts, a 17-year-old senior from South L.A., happened to be walking by. He is a Lundquist fellow, which means he’s no slouch. The young man has served as student body treasurer, was a member of the committee that chose the current Santee principal, plays guard on the basketball team, runs sprints on his track team, and started a campus club — Brothers and Hermanos — to explore why male students lag behind females in school performance.
“And what do you want to study?” Lundquist asked.
"Business,” Jaden said.
Lundquist, whose husband, Richard, runs a commercial development company, beamed. The business school at the University of Oregon is named after her father-in-law, she told Jaden. If he ever wanted to explore the possibility of going to school in Eugene, she told the student, she could make a connection for him.
Jaden thanked her and walked away with a smile.
Melanie and Richard Lundquist are not walking away.
Ten years ago, they pledged $50 million to schools in some of L.A.’s most impoverished neighborhoods. Some of their friends questioned their sanity, given school district bureaucracy and politics and the socio-economic challenges of students.