Gifts to a City

In 1897, Levi Strauss, immigrant founder of the Levi’s clothing company, endowed twenty-eight scholarships at UC Berkeley—and launched a tradition of charitable work that his descendents would carry on for more than a century. This 2007 San Francisco Chronicle article profiles the Haas family’s several generations and traces the impact their philanthropy has had, from the transformation of San Francisco’s Crissy Field to creating equal rights and opportunities for families in the Bay Area and beyond.