Roger C. Lipitz, a former health care entrepreneur who serves as chairman of the Baltimore Development Corp., will commit at least $1.5 million to endow a chair at the University of Maryland College Park devoted to strengthening ties between business and government, the university said yesterday.
The commitment by Lipitz, which could grow to $3.5 million, will establish the chair in his name at the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs. The gift — the largest ever received by the school — will also help start the Roger C. Lipitz Center for Public Policy and Private Enterprise.
“The blurring of the lines between the public and private sectors demands the development of quality research and teaching so that policy-makers can make informed decisions,” Lipitz said. “The center can be the focal point for this work.”
William E. Kirwan, the university’s president, said the gift will “dramatically expand our exploration of those policy issues that lie at the intersection of the public and private sectors.”‘
The university said it will use the Lipitz chair to recruit “a nationally acclaimed scholar-practitioner” who will study and teach the changing relationship between government and business. One focus will be health care and human services.
“Mr. Lipitz is providing the personal leadership for the study of an immensely important aspect of leadership: how our most basic elements of society relate and cooperate,” said Susan C. Schwab, dean of the School of Public Affairs.
Lipitz graduated from the University of Maryland in 1964 with a degree in accounting. He co-founded Meridian Healthcare in 1969. The company became Maryland’s largest provider of nursing home and related services before it was sold to Genesis Eldercare in 1993.
Lipitz, who was appointed to head the Baltimore Development Corp. in 1995, serves on the boards of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Maryland and Genesis.
Pub Date: 12/16/97
