The Claude Pepper Center at Florida State University was established through an endowment from the Claude Pepper Foundation as a memorial to Senator Claude D. Pepper (1900-1989). Senator Pepper established the Foundation to serve as a vehicle to further his efforts, through public policy initiatives, projects and research, health care reform and economic security for elderly Americans. With the Senator’s death in 1989, the Foundation, then located in Washington, D.C. relocated to Tallahassee. The Foundation negotiated with Florida State University to build a memorial to Senator Pepper in the early 1990s. Construction soon began and The Claude Pepper Center opened in 1998.

Today the Pepper Building is recognized throughout the lovely Florida State campus by an 8 foot bronze sculpture of Claude Pepper, considered one of the “Top 50 Most Important Floridians of the 20th Century.” The bronze, by sculptor Neil Estern greets visitors old and young alike. Inside the building, visitors are engulfed by the light from stained glass windows by glass artist Nancy O’Neil. The Pepper Building serves as the headquarters for The Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy, The Claude and Mildred Pepper Library and Museum, and The Claude Pepper Center, itself. Each of these entities serves as an important component in continuing the Pepper legacy.

The Claude Pepper Center is a dynamic academic resource fueled by its mission “to preserve and promote the ideas, values, public policy goals, and life of Claude Pepper to ensure they remain a continuing part of contemporary American and social discourse.” Empirical data and outreach to the public in need of information and assistance on the most important public policy issues and actions of the 21st Century – Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, Private Pensions and Health Benefits, and Employment—is how the goal is met. In essence, The Claude Pepper Center brings together everything that Claude Pepper worked for throughout the breadth of his career.