Eugene S Rosenfeld

January 26, 1934 - July 20, 2024 Philanthropist, Devoted Husband and Father
With great sadness we share the news that Eugene S. Rosenfeld passed away on July 20. The world knew Gene as a titan of the real estate industry, but he was so much more. Gene was a leader, an advisor, a patron, a benefactor and a friend.
Gene was born in Chicago on January 26, 1934. The son of a janitor, he was the first in his family to graduate from college. He attended UCLA on a $50 scholarship, earning his Bachelor of Science in business administration in 1956, an event he described as life changing. A year later, while serving in the U.S. Army, he married his Wife, Maxine. Together the two of them have been changing others' lives ever since.
Gene's first job was selling newspapers at just 9 years old; but his career began as an accountant, after studying to be a CPA while he was in the military. In 1963, he joined Kaufman & Broad, the first company to be traded as a home builder on the New York Stock Exchange. He stayed with that company until 1976, rising from division controller to become president and chief executive officer.
Though he excelled as an executive, Gene harbored entrepreneurial ambitions and founded his own real estate development company. In 1976, he co-found Highridge Partners - a diversified real estate company where Gene was managing partner. In 1993, he founded Western Pacific Housing in partnership with Apollo Advisors and Blackacre Capital; the company grew to be the 12th-largest home builder in the nation. Gene would also serve as co-chairman of Schuler Homes, seeing that company through the merger of Western Pacific Housing Group and the sale of the combined companies to D.R. Horton in 2002. He subsequently co-founded a diversified real estate investment and development company Integral Communities.
But his career details, as accomplished as they are, tell only part of Gene's story. His close friend and fellow UCLA Board of Advisors member Kip Hagopian reminds us that the qualities he valued most about Gene were: "his integrity, as there was no one more honest or trustworthy than Gene; his decency, as there was no one more considerate, thoughtful and fair-minded than Gene; his humility: for all his accomplishments, there was no one more thankful and self-effacing than Gene; and, perhaps most important of all, Gene was just 'nice' - not just some of the time, but all of the time."
As a UCLA dean and board chair, Gene's extraordinary generosity and dedication was exemplary. As the namesake of the Eugene and Maxine Rosenfeld Management Library he and Maxine became two of the major donors whose generosity enabled the construction the current campus. Gene and Maxine's gifts included the 30,000-square-foot Eugene and Maxine Rosenfeld Hall, a training facility for future healthcare professionals, the Maxine and Eugene Rosenfeld Endowed Chair in Computational Genetics and the Gene and Maxine Rosenfeld Family Foundation to fund undergraduate scholarships for underprivileged and disabled students, among other philanthropic causes.
Gene once said, "We wanted to give back so that young people have the chance to go to school. I look at it as the same thing that happened to me."
Gene received the UCLA Medal, the highest honor UCLA may bestow upon an individual. He served as a president and chairman of the board of the UCLA Foundation. As a Los Angeles civic leader, Gene served on numerous boards of art, health and academic organizations.
Gene is survived by his wife Maxine, sons Dennis and Michael and five grandchildren. He will be remembered for his kindness, leadership, generosity and his lifelong dedication to serving others.