LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Wallis Annenberg, the visionary Los Angeles philanthropist whose family name graces everything from a performing arts center in Beverly Hills to a wildlife crossing in Agoura Hills, has died. She was 86.
The Los Angeles Times said she was battling lung cancer.
She was heir to her father Walter Annenberg's publishing empire, which included TV Guide.
After he died in 2002, Wallis Annenberg took over as president and CEO of the Annenberg Foundation, which he founded in 1989 after selling TV Guide and assets to Rupert Murdoch.
She was also behind the $120 million donation that founded the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC back in 1993.
Eyewitness News reporter Rob McMillan was one of many who benefitted from that massive donation. He received his broadcast journalism degree after studying at USC shortly after the university received this generous gift.
But the generosity wouldn't end there. A $50 million donation allowed the construction of Wallis Annenberg Hall at USC more than a decade ago.
Her impact was also felt at K-12 schools in Los Angeles by way of a $53 million donation to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Project, which enhanced school reform.