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Shopping Centers Today -> February 2003
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DANIEL W. DONAHUE, 60, DEVELOPER AND MENTOR
BY DEBRA HAZEL
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| Daniel W. Donahue |
The shopping center industry lost a West Coast pioneer and one of its most colorful members when Daniel W. Donahue, chairman of Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Donahue Schriber and an ICSC past chairman, died from heart disease Dec. 31. He was 60.
“A light has been turned off,” said close friend and fellow retail developer Stephen Hopkins, chairman and CEO of The Hopkins Real Estate Group, Newport Beach, Calif.
West Coast developers credit Donahue with helping to promote the industry in Southern California and giving the region’s builders the prominence they deserve when he became ICSC chairman for the 1981Ð1982 term.
“For years ICSC was kind of East Coast-dominant,” Hopkins said. “When he became chairman, it was great for all of us.”
Donahue began his real estate career with Coldwell Banker in 1966, then joined the John S. Griffith Co. in 1968. After he was named president in 1976, he and Thomas L. Schriber acquired the company and changed its name to Donahue Schriber. The two worked closely together until Donahue’s death.
In its 33-year history under Donahue’s leadership, Donahue Schriber developed and redeveloped more than 15 million square feet of retail space throughout California, Arizona and Nevada. Focusing initially on regional malls, Donahue Schriber created some of the industry’s best-known and most innovative projects, including the Glendale (Calif.) Galleria, a landmark urban development that recently pioneered a teen-oriented section called “The Zone,” and the early-1990s repositioning of the open-air Fashion Island at Newport Beach.
The company was among the first to promote marketing in the industry, particularly to ethnic consumers, in the increasingly diverse markets of California; it also pioneered the hiring and promotion of women in leasing.
Donahue Schriber also helped to launch the demalling trend, in which enclosed malls are turned into open-air centers, in 1994 with Anaheim (Calif.) Plaza.
“Dan was also a great teacher and mentor, and helped a lot of young people in this business get set on the right course with the right values,” said Keith Eyrich, president of The Irvine Company Retail Properties, Newport Beach, which has a long-standing relationship with Donahue Schriber. “That is a great legacy for someone to have.”
Donahue remained active with ICSC and its trustees, proposing newcomers to the industry’s leadership and then squiring them around. He was the first recipient of the Champion of the Industry Award, created by the California Business Properties Association to honor businessmen for outstanding leadership and innovation.
Unstuffy, gregarious and quick to laugh, Donahue was known to come to work in shorts, Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops. He simply loved people, all who knew him say.
That colorful nature was seen also in the firm’s flamboyant advertisements, the most recent of which depicted Donahue and Schriber as superheroes. Executives say a sense of fun permeates the entire company.
“He brought laughter to this business,” Schriber said. “People loved him for that.”
 | Current Issue November 2008 |