Lipetz daughters created fund for father; 8th scholarship awarded

His sock drawer was full.

So in 2000 Irving Lipetz’s daughters decided there had to be a better present for him than buying clothes. They created a scholarship in his name that has brought the 1942 Kent School of Social Work alumnus significantly more pleasure.

Lipetz is a longtime advocate for the elderly and has spent much time lobbying for improvements in aging services. Through the scholarship named in his honor, he is gaining a cadre of younger advocates who are interested in public policy or gerontology, two of his main interests.

“I just like older people and there’s such a need, and this is where the action is going to be,” said Lipetz, who retired after 39 years with the Social Security Administration.

“There’s such a need in housing and health care and transportation. There’s a need for training people to meet this challenge, and Kent School is very good in this area.”

UofL officials honored Lipetz and his wife, Zera, at an April 11 luncheon celebrating the scholarship and its most recent recipient—Olivia Robinson Bourke, who graduated in May with a master’s in social work. Bourke did her advanced practicum this year as a community advocacy intern with Louisville Metro’s Center for Neighborhoods, a community-organizing agency.

“I used it for tuition and books; it was a big help,” Bourke said.

Hers was the eighth annual Lipetz scholarship, which is available to students in a practicum with an aging, policy or legislative focus. Bourke’s community-based work has taken root with the Germantown-Paristown Neighborhood Association in Louisville through a community urban garden project that includes raised beds intended to be more accessible to elderly and disabled residents. She also compiled a guidebook to setting up a neighborhood community garden.

Lipetz was a longtime member of the Kentucky Institute on Aging and past president of the Kentucky Association for Gerontology. He is past chairman of the Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency’s Aging Advisory Council and of the Louisville TRIAD Crime Prevention for the Elderly. Lipetz was a 1993 UofL alumni fellow.

Lipetz scholarship winner Olivia Robinson Bourke with Irv Lipetz