Over an eight-year run as Dean, Landesman helped elevate USC’s dental school, jumpstarting its ascent to being one of the nation’s top dental schools. 

IN 1991, LIKE MANY OTHER DENTAL SCHOOLS ACROSS THE NATION, the then-named USC School of Dentistry sat in a particularly precarious financial position. Falling enrollment. Increasing operational expenses. Intensifying debt. The future of oral healthcare education needed a reinvention.

Enter Howard Landesman DDS ’62, MEd ’73

Over his eight-year term as Dean (1991-1999) of the school now known as the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC, Landesman transformed the fortunes of his alma mater and set it on a renewed path by expanding its research enterprise, bolstering its academic profile, modernizing its facilities and significantly increasing its philanthropic support.

“Dean Landesman was a school-saving visionary at a time when the existence of the school was uncertain,” says David Eggleston DDS ’70, PROS ’72, member of the Board of Councilors and Friends of Dentistry.

For his role as a pivotal force in the history of Ostrow and significant contributions to the institution’s vitality, the USC Alumni Association recently named Landesman a 2026 Half-Century Trojans Honoree. The esteemed honor recognizes USC alumni of at least 50 years who promote the Trojan Spirit and strengthen bonds among their fellow alumni.

Formative Years

Born in Brooklyn to parents who stressed the value of education, Landesman moved to Los Angeles as a toddler and eventually attended Hamilton High in West Los Angeles. There, a classmate, Sheila Wall, introduced him to her boyfriend studying dentistry at USC, Gerald Mells DDS ’59. Both encouraged Landesman, Hamilton’s student body president and a self-described “tinkerer” and ham-radio operator, to pursue dentistry.

“It wasn’t my parents or a teacher or anyone but Sheila and Jerry planting this seed,” Landesman says of his career path.

After a two-year run as a pre-dental major at UCLA, Landesman received his acceptance letter to Ostrow.

“The greatest day of my life at that time,” says Landesman, who counts marrying his wife, Lynne, in 1965 and the birth of his daughter, Lori, in 1970 as other monumental life milestones. (Landesman and Lynne will celebrate 62 years of marriage in 2027.)

After obtaining his DDS degree from USC in 1962, Landesman spent two years as a Captain in the United States Air Force Dental Corps before entering private practice in Huntington Beach, Calif. In 1971, the American Dental Association awarded Landesman a fellowship to pursue specialty training in prosthodontics, leading Landesman to return to USC and earn specialty credentials and a master’s degree in higher education in 1973.

Though Landesman intended to pursue private practice, he instead honored his devotion to USC and accepted an offer to join the dental school’s faculty ranks. He spent the following 26 years in teaching, research and administration at USC, serving as co-chair of the Department of Restorative Dentistry, co-chair of Advanced Prosthodontics, Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs and Executive Associate Dean.

Transformational Run as Dean

Landesman embraced the challenge of becoming the dental school’s Dean in 1991 and championed its possibilities, eager to show the entire USC community the dental school could thrive.

Landesman’s fundraising blitz steadied the dental school’s financial position and empowered key investments. Landesman oversaw the renovation of more than 40,000 square feet of space, including new clinics for orthodontics and pediatric dentistry as well as patient reception areas. He steered the addition of pre-clinical teaching labs featuring cutting-edge simulators and computer technology. He introduced research labs, a sterilization and instrument manage-ment center, an advanced prosthodontics clinic and a special patient treatment clinic.

In 1994, the Commission on Dental Accreditation certified all programs at the dental school with no major recommendations for the first time in 20 years.

“I made students the absolute top priority and serving them became my real love,” Landesman says.

His leadership elevated the dental school’s national profile and set the stage for a lively, forward-thinking dental school now listed among the nation’s best.

Under his charge, USC captured the top spot among private schools in National Institutes of Health-funded research. Landesman also spearheaded the creation of collaborative academic programs with other USC schools, setting up the oral surgery/MD degree program with the School of Medicine, the DDS/MBA program with the School of Business and a combined DDS/MSG program with the School of Gerontology.

Yang Chai PhD ’91, DDS ’96, Ostrow’s current Dean and one of the many faculty wooed to USC by Landesman’s vision, credits his predecessor for elevating the dental school and strengthening USC as a whole.

“His influence continues to be felt through the people he inspired, the leaders he developed and the culture of excellence he established,” Chai says. “That enduring impact is the hallmark of a lifetime of achievement and, in my view, the very definition of a Half-Century Trojans Hall of Fame honoree.

Landesman’s Legacy

Following his tenure at the USC School of Dentistry, Landesman sought to write his next professional chapter elsewhere.

“Timing is everything, and it was time for me to go,” says Landesman of his 1999 departure from USC.

He moved onto the University of Colorado, where he built a new dental school and served as its Dean before joining the University of Colorado Foundation. Between USC and Colorado, Landesman raised more than $75 million to support education, research and community service.

“In the more than 130-year history of Ostrow, Dr. Landesman remains the only alumnus to serve as Dean of both his alma mater and another major school of dental medicine while also serving as a vice president of a university foundation,” Chai notes.

L.A., however, held Landesman’s heart. He and Lynne returned to the area in 2013 and have consistently engaged with USC, including establishing the Landesman Family Endowed Scholarship for a worthy prosthodontics student at USC.

“I love my specialty and want to make sure good people become prosthodontists,” Landesman says.

And, though Landesman last worked at USC 27 years ago, his impact endures.

Board of Councilors Chair Derick Tagawa DDS ’68, ORTHO ’71 praised Landesman’s unique combination of academic excellence, professional expertise and warm, approachable interpersonal skills.

“His unwavering commitment to excellence elevated the school’s reputation and left a lasting legacy for generations of students and graduates,” Tagawa says.

And though most might think of him as a fundraiser, Landesman, now 88, hopes he is most remembered as a visionary and dedicated Trojan.

“I always believed in the USC School of Dentistry’s ability to do bigger and better things,” Landesman says. “That it continues doing just that is an immense source of pride.”