University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation, Inc.

2021 Distinguished Service Award Recipients

This annual award recognizes the outstanding achievements of volunteers — or a team of volunteers — who have substantially contributed to enhancing and sustaining the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB).

Distinguished Service Award Winners

Louis F. Friedman, JD '65, and Phyllis C. Friedman, JD '77

Louis and Phyllis Friedman have been generous supporters of UMB for more than 20 years through their Louis and Phyllis Friedman Foundation, as well as other foundations they manage.

They have provided impactful philanthropic support to the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM). They have established the Emmert Hobbs Fellowship in Stem Cell Research Endowment, the Herman and Walter Samuelson Foundation Award and Lecture, and the Philip A. Zaffere Endowed Professorship in Regenerative Medicine for the director of the center, Curt Civin, MD. These momentous gifts complete an entire umbrella of philanthropy that will continue to catalyze translational research and economic development at the center in perpetuity.

The Friedmans also have established the Robert A. Fuld, MD ’81, Prize and Lectureship Endowment in Nephrology at UMSOM, named in honor of one of their sons, Fuld, who is a nephrologist and a 1981 UMSOM graduate.

As alumni of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, they have provided funding to the Erin Levitas Initiative for Sexual Assault Prevention Endowment and supported the Capital Campaign Building Fund. They also have supported the University of Maryland School of Nursing by establishing the Herman and Walter Samuelson Foundation Scholarship Endowment. 

Louis and Phyllis Friedman have truly made an impact at UMB by making foundational contributions to medicine and science. We salute their dedication as community philanthropists for decades, and we are grateful they have chosen to partner with us across our mission areas. The UMB Foundation recognizes Louis and Phyllis Friedman for their dedication to higher education and scientific advancement with the 2021 Distinguished Service Award.