Joan B. Kroc

Institute founder and peacemaker

Joan B. Kroc, peacemaker, philanthropist, and dearest friend, died October 12, 2003.  A beacon of light to all those who knew her,  Joan Kroc was dedicated to making this world a more peaceful place.  She established the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice with a $25 million gift to the University of San Diego in 1998 to build this facility and endow Institute activities. She believed that through education, people could learn to resolve differences peacefully. In January 2003, Mrs. Kroc gave the Institute $5 million to endow a Distinguished Lecture Series and in her will, she left $50 million to create a Joan Kroc School of Peace Studies at the Institute and to add to the existing endowment of the Institute to continue the work of peacemaking with justice. 

The University of San Diego, through the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice, will keep her legacy alive by, in her own words, “not only talking about peace, but making peace.”

Dedicated to fostering peace, cultivating justice, and creating a safer world, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice (IPJ) of the University of San Diego is an international nonprofit organization working to improve the lives of those caught in the web of armed conflict and human rights abuses.

It is the fundamental philosophy of the IPJ that possible only through the observance of human rights, the inclusion of civil society, and the incorporation of justice in peacebuilding processes.  In collaboration with local partners around the world, and as an NGO with Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice leads the effort to build peace with justice.