[5] He endowed the Opperman Scholars, program which provides scholarships to five incoming students at Drake University each year.
These are full-tuition scholarships along with a cash stipend for living expenses ($10,000 as of 2025[update]), renewable provided the student remains in the upper third of his or her class.
[2] His wife, Julie Chrystyn Opperman, donated two volumes of an extraordinarily rare 1478 edition of the Casus breves of Johannes de Turnhout (c.
[2] Opperman was the inaugural recipient of the Library of Congress Wickersham Award, which "recognizes an individual who exemplifies exceptional public service and dedication to the legal profession".
[9][5] Opperman died of liver cancer on June 13, 2013,[9] at home in Beverly Hills, California, aged 89.
[10] The original purpose of the award was "to recognise an extraordinary woman who has exercised a positive and notable influence on society and served as an exemplary role model in both principles and practice".
Other recipients of the award were: Queen Elizabeth II (2021); Belgian fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg (2022); and singer Barbra Streisand (2023).
[8] In 2024, the RBG Award panel, which had more than doubled in size, was chaired by attorney Brendan V. Sullivan, Jr., who in 1987 represented Oliver North in the Iran-Contra hearings.
After changing the rules to include five "trailblazing men and women" in the awards that year, the recipients were announced to be Elon Musk, financier Michael Milken, Rupert Murdoch, Martha Stewart, and Sylvester Stallone.