Herbert Sandler

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Herb Sandler together with his wife Marion Sandler purchased Golden West Savings and Loan from the founder ('Mr Jacoby') in Oakland California and created Golden West Financial Corp, the parent company of World Savings Bank, one of the largest S&Ls in the US with assets of almost $80 billion, deposits of $46 billion, and 9,300 employees as of 30 November 2003. Under the Sandler's management Golden West generated a 20 percent average annual compound growth over a 35 year period. This prompted Jason Jennings, author of "Less is More", to describe their company as "one of the most efficient and productive money machines on the planet".[1]

In addition, Golden West was voted the nation's most admired mortgage services company three times by Fortune magazine in 2006, 2005 and 2003. FORTUNE's annual list of the nation's most admired companies is based on surveys of 10,000 executives, directors, and securities analysts who rate the ten largest firms by revenues in their own industries using the following eight criteria: social responsibility, long-term investment value, employee talent, quality of products/services, innovation, use of corporate assets, financial soundness, and quality of management. Prior to 2003, Golden West was voted the nation's most admired savings institution seven times. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2006_Feb_28/ai_n26775126

The Sandlers were also named "2004 CEOs of the Year." by Morningstar, Inc. Patrick Dorsey, director of stock research for Morningstar, stated that Golden West has "created a phenomenal track record during the past four decades in a tough industry that is both commoditized and unpredictable." Dorsey goes on to say "The Sandlers of Golden West have created a company that is a paragon of corporate governance." http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_/ai_n8684079

The Sandlers were known for their thriftiness as business managers. In an interview in 2002, Marion Sandler explained why the company has no receptionist at its executive offices:[2]

"I can't imagine paying someone to sit out there all day doing nothing but smiling and greeting people."

Golden West was sold in 2006 for $24 billion to Wachovia Bank. The merger was completed in October 2006. The Sandlers owned about 10% of the company at the time of the sale, making their share of the sale price worth about $2.4 billion. Of this the Sandlers gave $1.3 billion to the Sandler Family Supporting Foundation.[3]

Political and other causes supported by the Sandlers

According to New York Times reporter Matt Bai, the Sandlers, along with Democratic donors George Soros and Peter Lewis established America Votes "to coordinate various get-out-the-vote drives during the 2004 election". The Sandlers also sent their son-in-law Steven Phillips as their representative to the October 2005 meeting of the Democracy Alliance at the Chateau Elan near Atlanta Georgia.[4]

ProPublica

In November 2007 Sandler announced that he had taken on the task of helming the board of the new organisation ProPublica and that his family foundation would be giving $10 million a year to support the group.[5] The Sandlers' move reflects a growing concern within the philanthropic world about cutbacks in investigative reporting and other public-interest journalism as traditional newspapers shrink their staffs in an effort to remain economically competitive in the Internet era. http://philanthropy.com/free/articles/v20/i02/02001001.htm They recruited one of the country's pre-eminent journalists, Paul E. Steiger, the former managing editor and editor-at-large until the end of the year of The Wall Street Journal, to head a newsroom in New York of 24 full-time reporters and editors, which will start operations in January. "Stories which have moral force, stories that are important to the sustainability of a democracy," he says, "those are the stories I hope we will be doing."

Slate journalist Jack Shafer raised questions about ProPublica's ability to provide independent nonpartisan journalism given the nature of Sandler's other political donations which include "giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic Party campaigns."[6]

Predatory Lending

On October 4th, 2008, NBC's Saturday Night Live ran a skit which caricatured the Sandlers as predatory lenders who had scammed unsophisticated borrowers into purchasing homes that they could not afford. SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels spoke with the Los Angeles Times on October 7 and said he had no idea the Sandlers were real people and that there is "absolutely no evidence" that the Sandlers engaged in any wrongful behavior. LA Times 10-7-08 In fact, the Sandlers helped found and are among the largest benefactors of the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and policy organization dedicated to protecting homeownership and family wealth by working to eliminate abusive financial practices. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/magazine/09Sandlers-t.html?ref=magazine)

Organizations funded by the Sandlers

Notes

  1. ^ "Less is More
  2. ^ Author gets money's worth from tight-lipped bankers
  3. ^ America's most generous donors
  4. ^ The Argument: Billionaries, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics
  5. ^ Putting their money into the right to know
  6. ^ Investigating Herbert and Marion Sandler
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