Brandeis Alumni, Family and Friends

Paying the Brandeis Experience Forward to the Next Generation

Bruce Litwer ’61 and his wife Vicki want to create a ripple of new opportunities for students who need financial aid.

For Bruce Litwer ’61, giving to Brandeis doesn’t feel like donating to a university. It’s like supporting a family. 

That’s why he and his wife, Vicki, have funded a new $250,000 need-based scholarship that will provide financial assistance to undergraduate students pursuing any area of study at Brandeis.

The fund is designated to support one “Litwer Scholar'' a year with a financial aid package. Yasha Broderick ’25, an International and Global Studies, Politics and Anthropology major, and the second recipient of the scholarship, said this support has helped him immeasurably.

“Brandeis has changed my life for the better, socially, academically, and in every other way,” he says. “I am so grateful to the donors who have allowed me to have this incredible experience.”

Bruce, a retired lawyer whose practice focused on real estate, says he was motivated to create the scholarship because his own experience at Brandeis was such a formative one to his life. Now, he wants to give that opportunity to others, most specifically to those who would not be able to afford it otherwise. 

“I benefited enormously from the education I received at Brandeis and from the many friendships I made there,” he says. “I also feel strongly about giving back to the institutions that have helped me, and supporting the places that have played a large role in my life, so I want to do that for my alma mater.” 

In addition to leading the Alumni Association in the early nineties, Bruce has served on the Brandeis National Committee executive committee and has co-chaired a number of his class reunions. 

Although she isn’t an alum, his wife Vicki says she feels like an honorary Brandeisian. In fact, their first trip together as a couple was attending Bruce’s 25th reunion, where they stayed in the campus dorms with his former classmates.

“The students who attend Brandeis are so lucky. I’ve seen that firsthand being with Bruce and seeing campus from the perspective of a non-alum,” she says. “We hope this scholarship allows more students to benefit from a Brandeis education.” 

The pair’s original plan was to make an estate gift by including the university in their will. After much discussion, though, they decided they wanted to be able to see the impact of any new scholarship they might help create. Critically, they also wanted to be able to use their voices to inspire others to support the university. 

“I want others to think about their own Brandeis experiences and give back in a significant way. Why wait? There are so many students who would benefit from your support right now." - Bruce Litwer ’61

The new fund is Bruce’s and Vicki’s second major philanthropic contribution to the university, following the Andrew Abel Memorial Endowed Scholarship, which they established in honor of Vicki’s late son in 1993 and gave over $100,000 to second-year students. Through their years of support, Bruce says they’ve come to understand that giving can change the course of people’s lives in unforeseeable ways. 

“You make an impact in ways you don’t even realize or anticipate,” he says. “Making a gift like this is like dropping a stone in a pool of water. It ripples out, and you don’t know where those ripples might go, whose lives they might affect, and how those people might then go on to help others.”

– David Marino, GSAS MA’19