Louis Galen

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Louis "Lou" J. Galen is an American philanthropist; before he retired he was a successful banker and CEO of Golden West Financial Corporation.

After serving in World War II, Galen used $12,000 in military pay to help found Lynwood Savings and Loan in 1946. He also attended the University of Southern California Law School, graduating with an LL.B. in 1951. By 1960 he became president of Lynwood Savings and Loan, changing its name to World Savings. He later formed Trans World Financial as a holding company for World Savings. World Savings merged with Golden West Financial in the 1970s and grew into a multi-state institution. Galen retired on September 6, 2005 at age 80. A year after his retirement, Golden West Financial was acquired by Wachovia for $25 billion.

Galen has been a longtime fan of the USC Trojans, buying his first football season tickets in 1947. He proposed to his wife in front of 3,000 people at a USC/Notre Dame football rally and had the wedding band perform Fight On at his wedding. In 1997, Galen suffered complications after heart surgery to replace a valve and was in a coma for 42 days; after he recovered he decided that he wanted to give away most of his money. Later that year, Galen and his wife donated $1.25 million to USC to establish a student athlete dining and social activity hall. In 2000 the donated an additional $300,000 for a ceramics studio in the USC School of Fine Arts.

Galen's most notable donations have been to build USC's on-campus basketball and volleyball arena: the 10,258 seat Galen Center, which opened on October 12, 2006. USC had planned to build a substantial on-campus basketball arena for over 100 years. As a student, Galen attended USC Men's Basketball games in the Shrine Auditorium and Pan-Pacific Auditorium and felt that the team required a better facility. After USC football quarterback Carson Palmer won the 2002 Heisman Trophy, Galen donated $10 million to move the development process forward. On August 28, 2003, Galen donated an addition $25 million to the project to have the building named after himself and his wife. The Galens upped their donation an additional $15 million to make sure than a connected practice facility would also bear their name, bringing the total donation to $50 million.

Galen has been married for over thirty years to his wife Helene, and has a family that includes five children and 11 grandchildren.

[edit] References

• Robyn Norwood, Galen Center Time Flies When They Have Funds, The Los Angeles Times, October 12, 2006.
• Form 8-K for GOLDEN WEST FINANCIAL CORP /DE/, Yahoo! Finance, September 8, 2005, Accessed Oct. 12, 2006.
• Getting Centered: Philanthropists Louis and Helene Galen give $35 million to realize the dream of a USC events center, Trojan Family Magazine, Winter 2003, Accessed Oct. 12, 2006.
• Patrick Kinmartin, Events center to open in 2006, Daily Trojan, August 28, 2003, Accessed Oct. 12, 2006.