a Conversation with roNald tutor
Ronald N. Tutor ’63, USC trustee and longtime university benefactor, is the 2011 recipient of the USC Alumni Association Asa V. Call Alumni Achievement Award. Thanks to his gen-
Building a legacy at uSC from the start, the construction magnate has kept the Trojan family in his plans.
erosity, his name graces two University Park campus buildings: the Ronald Tutor Campus Center and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Tutor Hall. He is chairman and CEO of Tutor Perini Corporation, a world leader in civil and building construction, and president of Tutor-Saliba Corporation, one of the nation’s largest general contractors. Tutor is also co-owner of Miramax Films. He recently spoke with the USC Alumni Association’s Cheryl Collier. What inspired you to attend uSC? i went to a Ucla-Usc football game when i was 11 years old, which incidentally Usc won, but i was so excited about the experience, and for some reason, i was determined from that point on to go to Usc. What experiences and/or people at uSC left the most lasting impressions on you? the relationships i formed while i went to Usc, the friendships that i made and all that i learned about the social interaction of people – thanks to the fellow trojans i was fortunate enough to meet in college. two of your children are uSC graduates. What advice did you give them about attending your alma mater? i told them they had better go to Usc if they wanted me to pay for their education. Were you and/or your firm involved in the design and construction of the ronald tutor Campus Center? obviously we not only oversaw the design, but i also built the Ronald tutor campus center. to give a beautiful building to a university that so richly deserves it is the most special feeling i can recall in terms of accomplishments. You have taken your place among the university’s greatest benefactors. Was there a particular moment or experience in your life that compelled you to link your legacy with uSC’s? no. i’ve always had this deep feeling for Usc and almost a compelling sense that i wanted to be involved in its growth, and i could not think of a better way than to give as i have to the university. i’ve been so proud of the progress the university has made in the last few years. as a former student, i think it’s great to be able to help future students enjoy the trojan experience as i did. What does receiving the alumni association’s highest honor, the asa V. Call alumni achievement award, mean to you? it means everything to me to be acknowledged by my peers and friends at Usc and their sense that somehow i’ve contributed significantly to the university. in 2010, you and your business partners acquired Miramax Films, with its library of 700-plus films. do you have any favorites among those? or favorite films in general? no, i just enjoy the movie business. When i was a kid growing up in the san Fernando valley, my mother oversaw the ladies’ wardrobe department at Universal studios for a while, so i was always fascinated with the business and developed a curiosity about it. am i excited about making movies? no. Will we have no alternative but to make a
photo by philip channing
certain level of movies? the answer is yes, because a film library of this magnitude, with so many classic films like Chicago, Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love, will require it. it will be another challenge as we move forward. l
For profiles of other Trojan luminaries, visit http://alumni.usc.edu/archives/profiles
U S C T r o j a n Fa m i ly m a g a z i n e spring 2011
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