JUL 2, 2026 · BY CHRIS NICHOLS
Glorya Kauman (center) arrives at the USC Kaufman 10th Anniversary party in 2024 with friends including Los Angeles Public City Librarian John Szabo
Credit: Photo by Greg Grudt/ Steve Cohn Photography/USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance
Kaufman and Broad was one of the biggest homebuilding companies in midcentury Los Angeles. In the 1960s, they created countless acres of tract homes that filled out suburbs from Santa Clarita to Huntington Beach and beyond. Partners Donald Kaufman and Eli Broad became extremely wealthy from their endeavors. While Kaufman died in 1983, his partner Broad became a billionaire and funded art museums downtown, at LACMA on Wilshire and with an immense collection that kickstarted the Museum of Contemporary Art.
USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance Senior Workshops in 2024
Credit: Photo by Jaelin Born/USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance
Kaufman’s philanthropy had a major impact on the cultural life of Los Angeles over the last 30 years. In 1994, she helped fund construction of a new Brentwood branch of the Los Angeles Public Library named for her late husband. Five years later she donated $18 million of UCLA to help create a 299-seat dance and performance theater, the home of the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. 
Erte (Romain de Tirtoff, 1892-1990), Daydreams
Credit: Photo courtesy Abell Auction Company
In 2009, her gift of $20 million to the Music Center funded a dance series that has brought the Joffrey Ballet, Royal Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and some of the world’s greatest performers to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Kaufman funded a prolific new school of dance at USC along with an International Dance Center named in her honor. “Glorya was a visionary in every way, particularly in recognizing the profound impact that dance brings to people’s lives daily,” USC Kaufman Dean Julia M. Ritter said at the time. “Her generosity was truly life-changing for so many.” 
Hard Hats from Glorya Kaufman’s Philanthropic Construction Endeavors
Credit: Photo courtesy Abell Auction Company
Glorya Kaufman, who sold her car and jewelry to help fund her husband’s upstart company when the pair were newlyweds, inherited his fortune and spent much of it supporting the arts in Los Angeles. Mrs. Kaufman died last year at age 95 after spending most of her life in L.A. Her 46-acre Beverly Hills mansion, which she named Château de Liberté, came on the market last week for $25 million. Proceeds from the sale will be donated to her eponymous foundation. Along with the house, more than 300 treasures from the Kaufman estate are coming up for auction on July 14. The Abell auction house calls the selection an “eclectic, curated mix inspired by her love of dance and the arts.” In addition to the museum quality works by Ed Ruscha and Erté, the Kaufman collection contains some quirky items like a 1950s Seeburg Select-O-Matic jukebox, a big Toledo scale like the one at Philippe’s, two one-cent gumball machines, hardhats and shovels from groundbreaking ceremonies and even a vintage red-white-and-blue Park-O-Meter brand parking meter. There are even a handful of abstracts and a nude painted by the philanthoprist herself. 
Seeburg Select-O-Matic 100 Jukebox.
Credit: Photo courtesy Abell Auction Company
“Kaufman had a remarkable eye for beauty, movement and creative expression,” said Abell Auction Co. Director of Appraisals and Trust Services Max Zellman. “This sale invites collectors and admirers into the private world of a legendary philanthropist of the arts whose impact can still be felt across the city’s stages, classrooms and neighborhoods.”
