Stanley Wainer ’50

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Stanley Wainer is the quintessential, totally committed volunteer. His extraordinary contributions to UCLA have substantially advanced its interest in many different ways. His activities on behalf of UCLA are simply too length to list (and they range from “A” for alumni president to “W” for Wooden Center campaign). Behind Wainer’s strong commitment to UCLA lies his firm belief that it is a great university; and that if it is to continue to be great, it must have excellence in four major components: its students, faculty, administration and physical plant.

“You can only obtain the real commitment of alumni to a school when you have excellence in all these areas,” he says. Projects such as the campaigns for Pauley Pavilion, the West Center and the Wooden Center were great vehicles for bringing alumni back to campus. Once back, they more easily became involved, or “reinvolved,” he says.

Wainer’s “reinvolvement” with UCLA, in the late 1960s, became something that could only be described as total involvement. He became active in a dozen or more committees and alumni support groups, served two terms on the Alumni Association board and ultimate wound up as alumni president and a Regent of the University of California, serving from 1980 until 1982. Also, since 1972, he has given an enormous amount of time as a trustee of The UCLA Foundation, including service as vice president of athletics and as a member of the executive and other committees. Also an alumnus of the UCLA Graduate School of Management’s Executive Program, he serves on its board of visitors.

Young Wainer grew up aware that UCLA was financially possible for him, and he worked hard for grades at Franklin High to gain admission; he succeeded in realizing his dream, though his education was interrupted during World War II by two years of Naval service. Once back at UCLA, as well as married to a classmate, he had to combine full-time work with his studies. This instilled in him a conviction he still holds that “the more you have to do, the more efficient you must be in utilizing all the hours of the day.” He gradated with honors from the School of Business Administration.

A job did not come automatically with a degree in those days. There were no company representatives coming to campus to recruit. According to Wainer, “We all just went downtown and pounded the pavements.” He began as a CPA with Price Waterhouse, and with his persistence and energy, his career thrived. He spent the next five years as chief financial officer for subsidiaries of Paramount Pictures, then two years as vice president of Royal Industries, joining Wyle Laboratories in 1962 as vice president of finance. He was elected president in 1970, chief executive officer in 1979 and chairman of the board in 1984. This year, he observes his 25th anniversary with Wyle, which has grown from a $16 million a year business when he arrived to more than $250 million today. Wyle is the world’s largest independent testing laboratory, with 40 locations throughout the country. Wainer’s outstanding record of achievement represents a standard to which all leaders in American industry may aspire. Appropriately, he was honored by the Alumni Association in 1985.

He says he came to feel that he really owes a lot to UCLA. “My education and experience at the University has enriched my life immensely,” he says. “At some point, I came to realize that it was important to give back some of all I had gained.”

As alumni president, he worked diligently toward a specific goal he had of uniting all segments of UCLA – alumni, students, faculty, administration and friends – to work more closely together in solving the University’s most pressing problems. He firmly believes that the Alumni Association’s purpose should be “friend raising” and the Foundation’s “fundraising.”

Even though his work week has often extended to 75 hours with his volunteer activities, Wainer finds it both exciting and enjoyable to be involved with UCLA. He and his life, Shirlene, attend many athletic, cultural, educational and social events in connection with his UCLA activities. In response to his generous gift to the Wooden Center campaign, racquetball courts in the Center have been named the Stan Wainer and Shirlene Wainer Courts.

In addition to his involvement with UCLA, Wainer is engaged in many community activities. He was named “Man of the Year” by the City of Hope in 1979 and was honored at a gala dinner by the National Conference of Christians and Jews in 1981. He is also active in the Urban League, Orthopedic Hospital, Constitutional Rights Foundation, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and Town Hall, among many others.

Wainer is a man of great personal warmth, loyalty and integrity. He is a truly exceptional person, who has combined a highly successful business career with an extraordinary record of service to his alma mater, his profession, his community and his nation. UCLA today proudly pays tribute to Stanley Wainer as the 1987 Edward A. Dickson Alumnus of the Year.