The Bernard Osher Foundation

The Bernard Osher Foundation, headquartered in San Francisco, was founded in 1977 by Bernard Osher, a respected businessman and community leader. The Foundation seeks to improve quality of life through support for higher education and the arts.

The Foundation provides post-secondary scholarship funding to colleges and universities across the nation, with special attention to reentry students. It also benefits programs in integrative medicine in the United States and Sweden, including centers at the University of California, San Francisco; Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston; and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. In addition, the Foundation supports a growing national lifelong learning network for seasoned adults. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes, operating on the campuses of 120 institutions of higher education from Maine to Hawaii, have a National Resource Center at the University of Southern Maine. Finally, an array of performing arts organizations, museums, and selected educational programs in Northern California and in Mr. Osher's native state of Maine receive Foundation grants.

In the News

The Bernard Osher Foundation awarded a $1 million endowment to The University of Montana to help sustain the highly successful Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UM (MOLLI).

"Early on Bernard Osher realized the connection between brain fitness and aging well, and he established funding aimed to support lifelong learning institutes that provide intellectually stimulating programs for older Americans," said Sharon Alexander, Dean of UM Continuing Education. "Through Bernard Osher Foundation gifts, MOLLI has prospered to offer programs that are varied and reach lifelong learners through the arts, sciences, and humanities."

Thanks MOLLI Members, Council and Committee Members!