Donald Kennedy leaves a lasting legacy in Orange County’s business and philanthropic communities.
Kennedy, chairman emeritus of Santa Ana-based title insurance company First American Finan-cial Corp., passed away on March 24. He was 93.
Kennedy joined First American in 1948, when it was known as Orange County Title and had less than $2 million in annual revenues. Over a 60-year career, he helped the company grow from a one-office firm in Santa Ana into the county’s biggest publicly traded real estate company, as well as one of its largest employers.
First American now counts a market value of $1.7 billion, while sister company CoreLogic Inc., a data and analytics company that was spun off from the title insurance business in 2010, counts a value of about $1.8 billion.
The two companies combined employ more than 2,000 people in OC and thousands more across the country.
The grandson of First American’s founder, C.E. Parker, Kennedy is credited with beginning the company’s expansion efforts in 1957 with the acquisition of title companies outside the Santa Ana area.
“Run it like it’s your own company,” Kennedy would say to new managers.
“We don’t just hire for the job,” Kennedy said in a 2007 Business Journal profile. “You hire the best and let them grow.”
His other hiring advice: Don’t hire anyone you wouldn’t want to invite over for dinner.
Kennedy was named president of First American in 1963, chairman in 1993 and chairman emeritus in 2003.
“When Dad started with First American, the company had one office in one county and now it has hundreds of offices throughout the world,” said Parker Kennedy, First American’s chairman and Donald Ken-nedy’s son.
Good Dad, Leader
“He saw the opportunity for growth and worked tirelessly to create a great company,” the younger Kennedy said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better dad, and the company couldn’t have had a better leader.”
“Don was a true visionary and a man of tremendous integrity who was admired by all those who knew him,” said Dennis Gilmore, First American’s chief executive. “While we will greatly miss his wise counsel and quick wit, he leaves behind a legacy of creativity and innovation that will always remain with our company.”
Kennedy kept a daily work schedule at First American until he was 90 and kept an active role in the community even after turning over the reins of the company.
He was a chairman of the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts and also served on the boards of South Coast Repertory, the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art and other organizations.
“Retirement is not the way I planned it,” he told the Business Journal in 2007, around the time of the opening of the Dorothy and Donald Kennedy wing of the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. He gave $2 million and raised millions more for the museum’s expansion.
At the time, he still had the most cluttered office of any First American executive—thanks, he said, to his numerous charitable efforts.
“I’m on enough charitable boards to feed me the rest of my life,” he said.
Boards
Kennedy also served on the board of trustees for Chapman University and provided key support for the creation of the Chapman University School of Law. He was recognized in 1999 with the dedication of the Donald P. Kennedy Hall at the school.
He also was a member of Stanford University’s Athletic Board. Kennedy was a member of Stanford University’s 1939 NCAA champion golf team and played into his late 80s.
Kennedy scored his first hole-in-one in 1930 at the age of 12 and went on to score eight more, according to First American.
He “shot his age so many times he stopped counting,” the company said.
Kennedy also served in the Navy during World War II and took part in amphibious landings in Southern France.
He attended Santa Ana High School and after graduating from Stanford in 1940 went on to get his law degree from the University of Southern California.
Details of a memorial for Kennedy are pending.
