Longtime University Supporter Beth Landis Dies at Home
Beth Landis ’45 traveled the world with her husband, Richard “Dick” Landis, molded young minds as a Girl Scout leader and gave generously to her alma mater in support of business and leadership students. Her impact will be felt long after her passing, which occurred July 30 at her home in Penn Valley, Calif.
“Beth and her husband embodied the philanthropic spirit at the University of La Verne, supporting students and the University as a whole in ways that will continue to transform lives for years,” said University of La Verne President Devorah Lieberman. “While her husband had success in the corporate world and contributed his vision as a Trustee, I also deeply respected Beth for her dedication to community engagement and the unwavering support she gave to her husband and the University.”
Beth Landis and her husband, a Trustees Emeritus, are known for their legacy of giving at the University of La Verne, establishing the Richard G. and Beth T. Landis Endowed Professorship in Business Leadership and Ethics and the Landis Endowed Scholarship. Their scholarship provides $100,000 in funding and leadership training annually, benefitting 15 students per year.
The Landises received the University of La Verne President’s Award in 2000 for their commitment to providing scholarships to high performing students. The Landis Academic Center, which opened in 1996, is named in their honor.
Trustee Michael A. Abraham described Beth Landis as a person who was always happy and proud of what she and her husband had accomplished during their lives.
“She and Dick truly loved the university,” Abraham said. “They were an inseparable couple, and she was always in support of anything that Dick desired to do, particularly if it supported the university.”
Beth Landis, the daughter of teachers, grew up in Pomona, Calif., according to The Union newspaper.
She played softball, field hockey and basketball and participated in the debate team while in school. She met Richard Landis while attending La Verne College, where she majored in history and earned a teaching credential. They were married for 75 years until Richard Landis’ death in February 2016.
Beth Landis traveled often during business trips with her husband, who served as CEO for Del Monte Corporation and President-Pacific of RJR-Nabisco, among other executive roles. In the 2002 memoir “Making a Difference,” which she wrote with her husband, Beth Landis described her love of traveling.
“My life has been surprisingly itinerant for a little girl born to school teachers in tiny La Verne, California,” she wrote. “I’ve been to six of the seven continents. Maybe I was destined for such a life all along!”
She also took on leadership roles of her own, serving as a Brownie troop organizer, a Camp Fire Girl and Girl Scout leader and a deacon and member of the Altar Guild for the Piedmont Community Church in the California Bay Area, The Union newspaper reported.
Beth Landis is survived by her sons Gary Perrin Landis and Dennis Michael Landis, and daughter Kay Landis Dillon. She is also survived by nine grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and her brother-in-law Bill M. Landis.
Family members held a memorial service Aug. 6 in Grass Valley, Calif. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of the Foothills, 11270 Rough and Ready Highway, Grass Valley, 95945.
