Dr. Esther Lowy was the dedicated and dynamic academic leader of Touro College Los Angeles (TCLA) from its inception. As Founding Dean, Dr. Lowy worked with Touro’s founder, Dr. Bernard Lander, to establish a Touro branch of high academic quality in a positive Jewish atmosphere on the west coast. As a mother of eight children, Dr. Lowy extended her parental role to TCLA and its students. Her concern for every student and her dedication to ensuring the success of each individual was legendary.

A Woodrow Wilson Fellow while she was a student at NYU, Dr. Lowy earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the prestigious Courant Institute of NYU at a time when women constituted only 4% of the recipients of doctorates in mathematics in the United States. Dr. Lowy initially aspired to an academic career, serving in positions at City University of New York, California Polytechnic University and UCLA. Subsequently, she earned an M.B.A. from UCLA and assumed a number of management positions before becoming Dean at Touro College Los Angeles in 2005.

Dr. Lowy believed in the Touro College mission and in the importance of providing higher education to young men and women. She brought this passion to building Touro College Los Angeles and to raising her outstanding children, all of whom studied at Touro College. She was a tremendous asset to Touro, and her passing has left a void and a profound sense of loss. Her legacy of excellence, kindness and caring continues through her family and the students and alumni whose lives she touched and inspired.