RICH, TOO
OC’s Other Rich Notables: Drug Maker, Financier, Nixon Compound’s Owner
ALLEN CHAO
Chairman, chief executive, president,
Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Orange County resident Allen Chao runs drug maker Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. just over the county line in Corona.
The company is shifting gears: known as a generic drug maker, Watson is eyeing more brand-name offerings.
The move,and worries about near-term profits,have made for tough going. Watson’s shares are about a third of where they were a year ago after an earnings warning in November.
That’s impacted Chao’s worth. Last year, he ranked No. 14 on the Business Journal 20 listing at an estimated worth of $300 million. Today his 4.6 million Watson shares are worth about $100 million.
Chao, whose family is from Taiwan, co-founded Watson in 1984 and became chief executive in 1985. He and his family are known for their efforts on behalf of healthcare causes.
The comprehensive cancer center at UCI Medical Center in Orange bears his family’s name.
Chao, his brother and two sisters donated $8 million to UCI in 2000 to fund research into the genetic causes and treatment of cancer, particularly among Asian-Americans. Chao himself was successfully treated for stomach cancer at UCI in 1999. The family previously had given $5.7 million to the university in a series of gifts that included the creation of the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
, Vita Reed
JOHN CREAN
Retired founder, chairman,
Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc.
There’s no telling where John Crean’s wealth would top out if he weren’t so darn generous.
According to his 2000 autobiography, “The Wheel and I,” Crean and wife Donna give away half of what they make to charity.
The Santa Ana Heights resident has a Midas touch.
He built Riverside-based Fleetwood En-terprises Inc. into the largest maker of mobile homes, RVs and travel trailers. Last year, the company counted sales of $2 billion.
Crean retired from Fleetwood in 1998. In the past, he’s raced Porsches and dune buggies and produced films starring Bill Cosby and Elizabeth Taylor.
In the 1990s, he starred in the wacky KOCE cooking show, “At Home on the Range.”
He also developed “Crean Acres,” a retirement housing project in Hemet.
Crean’s made a big mark as a philanthropist. His multimillion dollar gift helped grow The Crystal Cathedral.
Santa Ana Zoo and the Balboa Theater are among his other beneficiaries.
,Daniel D. Williams
Gavin Herbert
Founder, Allergan Inc.; chairman, owner, Roger’s Gardens; part owner, La Casa Pacifica, San Clemente
Maybe you’ve bought pelargoniums,or contact lens solution,from Gavin Herbert.
The founder of Irvine eye-care products company Allergan Inc. owns Roger’s Gardens, the Corona del Mar shop for everything from imported flowers to Radko ornaments.
Herbert also owns part of La Casa Pacifica, Nixon’s former San Clemente compound once known as the “Western White House.”
Most of Herbert’s investments still are tied to Allergan, OC’s most valuable company with a market capitalization of $7.5 billion last week. He served as Allergan’s chief executive from 1961 to 1991 and as chairman from 1977 to 1994. He has been Allergan’s chairman emeritus since 1996 and serves as a director.
He’s also a director of Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc. and is founder and chairman of San Clemente-based Regenesis Bioremediation Products Inc., which offers environmental cleanup products. And he’s vice chairman of the Beckman Foundation and a life trustee of the University of Southern California.
Herbert conducts his personal business out of his Roger’s Gardens office, with a view overlooking the gazebo. You might find him on the Big Canyon golf course, too. In 1994, he made his son, Gavin Herbert Jr., president of Roger’s Gardens.
In 1980, Herbert bought Casa Pacifica when Richard and Pat Nixon moved from San Clemente to the East Coast. The Nixons had lived in San Clemente since 1969. Herbert was a Nixon supporter.
Earlier this year, directors of proposed Casa Romantica Cultural Center appointed Herbert to lead a funding drive for the proposed center. Casa Romantica is the former home of San Clemente founder Ole Hanson.
,Chris Cziborr
CHARLES MARTIN
Founder, former managing partner, Enterprise Partners Venture Capital;
partner emeritus, Costa Mesa-based Westar Capital LLC
Low-profile, soft-spoken Charles Martin has cult status with many of the savviest venture capital and buyout investors in America.
Now retired, the founder and former managing partner of Enterprise Partners Venture Capital, which moved to La Jolla from Newport Beach in the mid-1990s, is one of the oldest and most successful venture capitalists in OC.
Martin made most of his money by investing in startups, leveraged buyouts and other investments. When George Argyros wanted to start a venture fund, he tapped Martin for Westar Capital LLC. For 25 years, Martin co-owned the TEC Organization,a San Diego-based chief executives group,until its 1999 sale to Michael Milken and Larry Ellison.
With wife Twyla, Martin is an art collector and lives in Laguna Beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Their ile-de-France style home took nearly seven years to complete.
Martin manages his own investments and acts as an adviser to private equity firms. He’s also a big giver to the arts and higher education.
,Rajiv Vyas
WILLIAM PODLICH
Cofounder, managing director,
Pacific Investment Management Co.
One of the four original PIMCO founders, Bill Podlich has taken a step back from the bond world in favor of politics and charitable endeavors.
Podlich, who helped setup PIMCO in 1971, was chief executive of the Newport Beach-based bond fund manager until current chief William Thompson took over in 1993. Podlich still is a PIMCO managing director.
These days, Podlich is one of OC’s most prominent Democrats. He’s director of the Democratic Foundation of Orange County and is former California chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council. In 1993, Podlich and wife Pat were among an OC contingent that attended President Clinton’s inauguration. He knows both Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Podlich is involved with various nonprofit groups. He’s on the board of the Orange County Business Committee for Arts. He does most of his philanthropic activity through the Orange County Community Foundation. He’s a giver to the Orange County Performing Arts Center.
He’s a trustee of Claremont McKenna College, a governor of the California Community Foundation and a trustee of the Progressive Policy Institute. He’s also a trustee and vice chair of the University of California, Irvine Foundation.
Podlich started working with UCI in the late 1980s as treasurer for the College of Medicine board. He had a big hand in starting UCI’s Center for the Study of Democracy, where he endowed the William F. Podlich Fellowship in 1995. In 2001, he received the UCI Medal for his work with the university.
Podlich earned his undergraduate degree from Claremont McKenna College and his master’s in business from the University of Southern California. He lives with his wife on Balboa Peninsula in a 4,300 square foot beach house where every room has an ocean view.
,Rajiv Vyas
