Philanthropy
Younes Nazarian was the founder of the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Family Foundation and its Israeli sister organization, the Ima Foundation.[7] His daughter, Sharon Nazarian, serves as the foundation's President.
Younes Nazarian was the former chairman of the board of governors of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (JAMD) and the Haifa Foundation.[3] One JAMD building is named after Younes & Soraya Nazarian. He also served on the board of directors of the Sapir Academic College,[6] where the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Academic Library is named in his honor.[8] The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Pre-Academic Library Of the Ima Foundation at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is also named in his honor.[9]
In 2007, he donated $119,000 to the University of Haifa in the form of 119 scholarships of $1,000 to commemorate the Israeli casualties of the 2006 Lebanon War.[2] That same year, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy from the university.[6] Additionally, he served as a member of the "Public Standing from abroad" on its board of governors.[10] In mid 2017, Younes donated $17,000,000 to the Valley Performing Arts Center at California State University, Northridge. The performing arts center will have a name change in honor of Younes' wife, Soraya (it will also be known as "The Soraya").[11][12]
Younes Nazarian endowed the Beit Midrash Fellowship at the Milken Community High School in Bel Air.[6] He has also endowed the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).[6] The Nazarian Pavilion in the Doheny Library on the campus of the University of Southern California (USC) was also built as a result of a charitable gift from Nazarian.[6] In 2017, Nazarian and his wife donated $17 million to the California State University, Northridge, where the Valley Performing Arts Centre was renamed the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts.[13][14][12]
Younes Nazarian was the former chairman of the Habib Levy Cultural & Educational Foundation. He served on the board of trustees of the Jewish Federation and Jewish Television Network.[6] He has served at the Sinai Temple, a Conservative synagogue in Westwood.[6]
Younes Nazarian served on the Advisory Board of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the RAND Corporation.[6] He served on the board of directors for the Friends of IDF, a fundraising non-profit organization for the Israel Defense Forces.[6]
Younes Nazarian obtained honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Haifa and California State University, Northridge, where the performing arts center is named in their honor.
Younes Nazarian received Israel's highest honor of the Torch Lighting Ceremony on Mount Hertzl, generally only given to Israeli-born citizens, and was also the recipient of the 2011 Ellis Island Medal of Honor.[6]
