Donald Richards StephensJune 28, 1938 – February 25, 2020Donald Stephens ("Don"), the quintessential San Franciscan, founder and chairman of the San Francisco-based real estate investment company, D. R. Stephens & Company, passed away on February 25, 2020, after a brief illness.
Don was born in 1938 in San Francisco. In 1946, he and his parents moved to Sacramento, California, when his father was hired to manage the construction of one of the first regional shopping centers in the U.S., Town & Country Village
Following graduation from El Camino High School in Sacramento, Don attended University of Southern California, graduating in 1961 with a finance degree. Following college Don returned to Sacramento to work in the family real estate business, which started his lifelong love of real estate investing. In 1964, Don packed up and returned to San Francisco.
As a means of affording law school tuition and with an entrepreneurial spirit that never left him, he cofounded a steak house and bar on Union Street, The Cooperage (1965-1975), with two other partners. The Cooperage was extremely successful as the first up-scale singles bar/restaurant in San Francisco. In 1969 he graduated from the University of California Hastings College of Law and sold his interest in the restaurant to his partners in order to focus on his new law career. He took a job working for the law firm of Louis O. Kelso, with a focus on real estate. In 1971 he went out on his own and established The Law Office of Donald R. Stephens.
In 1972 he married his first wife, Christina Brinkman, with whom he had his four sons, Lane, Justin, Nicholas and Adam. They divorced in 1994, but Don and Chris maintained a good relationship up until his passing.
In 1973, he founded D. R. Stephens & Company, a family real estate investment firm, originally formed to trade multi-family properties in San Francisco. Since then, the firm has focused on virtually all aspects of investment real estate throughout Northern California.
In 1977, Don assembled a group that established the Bank of San Francisco, where he held the position of chairman and CEO. The bank grew rapidly from a very small bank with little assets and few employees to one of the larger San Francisco banks in just over ten years. In 1990, Don negotiated the sale of the bank to an investor from Indonesia.
In 1994, Don met the love of his life, Patricia Parsons Hamilton. They married in 2000 and spent the next 26 years traveling the world and enjoying life and time spent with good friends. They built homes together, created strong friendships worldwide and had as much fun as any couple could possibly want.
In 1996, Don and Patricia bought a property in Saint Helena which provided a perfect site for a house and vineyard. In 2002, they released their first vintage, D. R. Stephens Estate Moose Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was well received, and the wine business became another of Don's passions. Don's second son, Justin, joined the family wine business full time in January 2004, the year he also released the first wines under his own label, Hunnicutt. In the fall of 2007, Justin and Don formed a new company, D. R. Stephens Estate Wines, where Don enjoyed working with a son in a business he loved.
Don always maintained real estate investment assets and in 2000, his eldest son, Lane, joined the company as president of the firm, and a few years later his third son, Nicholas, also came into the business where again Don got to enjoy working with his sons in another business he loved so much.
Throughout his life, Don spent a great deal of time traveling with his wife and spending time socializing. Never one to miss an opportunity to stand out from the crowd, his flair and style set him apart in any gathering.
During his lifetime, Don was appointed by Mayor Diane Feinstein to serve on the San Francisco Airport Commission. He also served on the Board of Trustees for the Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, the board of directors for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the California Chamber of Commerce, and as a trustee of the Charles Schwab Family of Funds. He also served on the Advisory Board of UC Berkeley's Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics, was a supporter of the Prince of Wales Foundation, and SF MOMA, in addition to his membership in the Olympic Club, and the World's Presidents Organization. Recently and up until his death, he enjoyed serving on the board of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California.
He is survived by his devoted wife of 20 years and best friend, Patricia; his sons and their wives/partners: Lane (Elizabeth), Justin (Seana), Nicholas (Stephanie) and Adam (Aline), six grandchildren – Larson, Gillian, Parker, Preston, Beckett, and Clyde; his stepson, Crawford Hamilton; and his ex-wife Christina Stephens.
A memorial service is being planned and will be announced. In lieu of flowers, the Stephens family suggests a donation be made in Don's name to the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Novato, CA.