Donald P. Kennedy and his wife Dorothy, pictured in a 2008 file photo.
Donald P. Kennedy and his wife Dorothy, pictured in a 2008 file photo.

Donald P. Kennedy, university benefactor, county philanthropist, passes away

Donald P. Kennedy and his wife Dorothy, pictured in a 2008 file photo.
Donald P. Kennedy and his wife Dorothy, pictured in a 2008 file photo.

A globally recognized business leader and one of Chapman University’s most ardent supporters, Donald P. Kennedy passed away March 24. He was 93.

The generosity and leadership of Kennedy and his wife of 65 years, Dorothy, can be seen throughout the Chapman campus. Their key support helped create the Chapman University School of Law, which makes its home in Donald P. Kennedy Hall.

A longtime officer and member of the Chapman Board of Trustees, Donald Kennedy most recently served as a trustee emeritus. He is also the namesake of the Donald P. Kennedy Intercollegiate Athletics Program at Chapman, and he established the Kennedy Chair in Law, now held by Dean Tom Campbell, and the Kennedy Chair in Economics and Law, held by Professor Bart Wilson.

“We have lost a champion,” President Jim Doti said in announcing Kennedy’s passing to the Chapman community. “I do not use the word ‘champion’ lightly. Don Kennedy left an indelible imprint on our university. We are truly blessed to be the beneficiaries of his legacy.”

Beginning in 1948, when he joined Orange County Title Co., his grandfather’s firm, Kennedy also made an indelible mark on the local, national and international business landscape. The company would become First American Financial Corp., and under Kennedy’s leadership it grew from less than $1.5 million in revenue in 1957 to more than $8 billion in 2006.

“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 S. Kennedy, First American’s chairman, Donald Kennedy’s son and a member of the Chapman Board of Trustees. “He saw the opportunity for growth and worked tirelessly to create a great company. I couldn’t have asked for a better dad, and the company couldn’t have had a better leader.”

Donald Kennedy, whose family roots in Orange County date to 1873, attended Santa Ana High School and graduated in 1940 from Stanford University, where he was a member of an NCAA championship golf team. After serving in the Navy during World War II and taking part in landings in Southern France, he graduated from the University of Southern California School of Law.

Kennedy served First American in a number of roles before being named president in 1963 and chairman of the board in 1993. He was named chairman emeritus in 2003, a title he maintained after retiring from the Board of Directors in 2008. Still, Kennedy consistently went to his office at First American’s Santa Ana campus until age 90.

“I was truly privileged to sit on the Board of Directors of First American Financial when Don was chairman,” President Doti said. “It was there that I began to understand the depth and breadth of those attributes that explained the caliber of his leadership: How he always insisted on quality; how he used humor to lighten up a tired discussion or tone down an argument; and perhaps most important, how he treated everyone with the utmost respect.”

A committed philanthropist, Kennedy supported dozens of organizations focused on Orange County. In addition to the leadership he and Dorothy have provided to Chapman, Kennedy was a past chairman of the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts and served on the boards of South Coast Repertory and the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, among others.

In 1999, the same year Kennedy Hall was dedicated at Chapman, Donald Kennedy was named “Man of the Century” by Orange Coast magazine.

Kennedy is survived by Dorothy; his son, Parker Kennedy; two daughters, Elizabeth Myers and Amy Healey; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Dawn Bonker

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