Ione L. Piper; Endowed Dean’s Chair at USC

Ione L. Piper, 79, a leading benefactor of USC. After the death of her husband, C. Erwin Piper, who served as chief administrative officer of the city of Los Angeles from 1962 to 1979, Piper endowed the dean’s chair in the USC School of Public Administration, now part of the university’s school of policy, planning and development. She called her $2-million gift the most meaningful support she could offer the institution that launched her husband’s career in public service. Born Ione Pyle to a Ventura County family in the citrus business, she graduated from the Holmby College for Women in 1942. After a stint as a secretary for the Republican Party, she found work in the travel business planning tours. It was on a tour to Hawaii that she met her future husband, who died in 1992. On Jan. 8 in Sedona, Ariz., after a long illness.