UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – As a longtime enthusiast of classical literature, Larry Raiman knows the meaning of the Latin phrase "carpe diem." When it comes to Raiman's alma mater, Penn State, the ancient Roman maxim has doubled as a personal directive. Across more than three decades of service, Raiman has seized opportunities to mentor Penn State students, host internships, volunteer on development campaigns and devise original co-curricular programming — and he backed that service with support for all three imperatives of the University’s recently concluded fundraising campaign, “A Greater Penn State for 21st -Century Excellence.”
“Penn State gave me four great, unforgettable years,” said Raiman. “It helped me mature professionally and as a person, and I developed friendships — both in and outside my fraternity, Beta Sigma Beta — that have held strong my entire life. The University gave me a first-rate education, and it also taught me the importance of giving back to your community and the value of charity.”
In 2002, Raiman made the first gift in service of a cause that what would become his core commitment at the University: helping to ensure that Penn State remains accessible and affordable to applicants from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Since then, he has created four need-based scholarships, two in the Smeal College of Business memorializing his parents, Vivian and Jesse Raiman; and a further two in the Bellisario College of Communications and in University Athletics, which honor his sons, recent alumni Alex and Marc. As permanent endowments, these funds will provide annual student scholarships in perpetuity.
Raiman has also set up programming funds that take learning beyond the classroom. The Raiman Family Endowment in Real Estate and the Larry Raiman Family Endowment in the College of Information Sciences and Technology galvanize creative problem-solving by challenging students to tackle real-world industry challenges, often through direct engagement with industry leaders and executives.
Most recently, Raiman broached a third philanthropic frontier to accelerate medical research. Established in 2019, the endowment at Penn State Cancer Institute targets resources to the study of osteosarcoma, the most common type of bone cancer.
With this most recent gift, Raiman established funds that contributed to all three imperatives of Penn State’s “A Greater Penn State” campaign, which concluded on June 30, 2022.
“Because Larry has been so deeply embedded in the Penn State experience, he understands the depth and urgency of need, but also the incredible untapped potential that can be unleashed through philanthropy,” said O. Richard Bundy III, vice president for development and alumni relations. “His generosity has made itself felt again and again across an impressive range of colleges and units, and what’s especially meaningful is that his endowments will go on benefiting students and impacting the world for generations to come.”
Raiman attributes his entrepreneurial and philanthropic drive to his humble origins. He was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to parents who had relocated from New York following World War II. They borrowed money from a relative to get a luggage sales business off the ground. Raiman and his two sisters went on to become the family’s first generation of college graduates.
“My parents taught me the importance of adaptability by meeting every setback with renewed drive and innovation,” said Raiman. “When I came to Penn State, I started as a math major but quickly migrated into business, where I found my passion and followed in my parents’ footsteps by meeting challenges head-on.”
Raiman graduated from the Smeal College of Business in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. After taking his degree, he relocated to New York, earned his CPA license and worked as a tax specialist in public accounting before completing a graduate degree at Columbia University to emerge with his MBA in 1989. From there, he embarked on a three-decade career in finance, first as a research analyst ranking real-estate stocks, then in asset management and investment. In 2010, he launched his own independent firm, LDR Capital Management, which today boasts twelve team members amidst ongoing expansion.
Through it all, he never lost sight of the educational foundation that launched his success.
“I was so invigorated by the possibilities that the University opened for me, and even then, I hoped someday I’d have a chance to pay it forward,” said Raiman. “I think about the first-generation student who is teetering financially, or who’s balancing full-time schoolwork with two part-time jobs just to eke by. A scholarship can alter the trajectory of their entire life, and it’s that kind of impact that drives my giving.”
Raiman has lent a helping hand to students in many tangible ways beyond his philanthropy. He has hosted on-location events as a Wall Street Initiative volunteer, and he conceived of and judged the Real Estate Trust Stock Pitch Competition for Smeal. He has also served on Smeal’s Real Estate Advisory Board and on its campaign committee in in “For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students.” Mostly recently, he offered his services as a consultant to the Volunteer Engagement Committee for the “Greater Penn State” campaign, and he continues to sit on the University-wide Principal Gifts Committee.
He also takes great pride in the scores of undergraduates whom he has mentored and the interns he has hired, setting them on a path to landing full-time jobs.
For these and other contributions, Raiman was recently honored with the 2022 Alumni Fellow Award, the most prestigious award given by the Penn State Alumni Association. Since 1973, the award has been given to select alumni who, as leaders in their professional fields, are nominated by an academic college and accept an invitation from the President of the University to return to campus to share their expertise with students, faculty and administrators.
Raiman has also been a member of many organizations and charities beyond Penn State, including the Urban Land Institute, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts and the International Council of Shopping Centers. For many years, he lent his expertise as an adjunct faculty member in the Columbia Graduate School of Business, teaching real estate finance courses to the school’s global constituency.
Other members of the Raiman family have used their Penn State degrees as a launchpad to success. Larry’s oldest son, Alex, graduated with a degree in film-video from the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications in 2012, and has since made a name for himself as a director and writer in Hollywood. Raiman’s younger son, Marc, earned his bachelor’s degree from Smeal in 2016 and a graduate degree from Columbia University, and proceeded to climb the corporate ranks, most recently serving as director with a prominent Miami-based real estate development firm named Terra Group.
“I’ve certainly worked hard in the financial sector, but I’ve also been blessed with good fortune and generous support along the way,” said Raiman. “So if I can do my part to make sure Penn Staters have the resources they need to thrive, then I’ll know I’ve made a difference I can be proud of.”
With the record-breaking success of “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” which raised $2.2 billion from 2016 to 2022, philanthropy is helping to sustain the University’s tradition of education, research and service to communities across the Commonwealth and around the globe. Scholarships enable our institution to open doors and welcome students from every background, support for transformative experiences allows our students and faculty to fulfill their vast potential for leadership, and gifts toward discovery and excellence help us to serve and impact the world we share. To learn more about the impact of giving and the continuing need for support, please visit raise.psu.edu.