Howard Fieldstad Ahmanson Jr. (born February 3, 1950) is an American Evangelical philanthropist. He is the son of Howard F. Ahmanson Sr., the founder of Home Savings Bank.
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Early life and education
Howard Fieldstad Ahmanson Jr. was born on February 3, 1950. He is the son of Dorothy Johnston Grannis and financier Howard F. Ahmanson Sr. (1906–1968). His father was a prominent businessman in the savings and loan industry; Howard Sr. founded H. F. Ahmanson & Co., which thrived in the Great Depression and ultimately expanded throughout California and into New York state, Arizona and Florida. His father was well known for his support of the arts, an area in which Ahmanson has continued to be active.
His parents divorced when he was ten years old. Despite the trappings of wealth, Howard Jr. was a lonely child. He has said, "I resented my family background, [my father] could never be a role model, whether by habits or his lifestyle, it was never anything I wanted." His father died when he was eighteen, and Ahmanson inherited the family's fortune.
He attended Occidental College, where he obtained a degree in economics. He then toured Europe, but returned because of complications with arthritis. He earned a master's degree in linguistics at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Monetary contributions
Organizations and projects
Fieldstead and Company, Howard and Roberta Ahmanson's personal office, has a steady history of contributing parts of his father's inherited fortune to a plethora of organizations and initiatives. It is stated that the mission of Fieldstead and Company is to "make the world more like ... a place where there is no darkness, no sickness, no hunger or thirst, no slavery, no prisoners, no tears, no death". The following is a list of organizations to which the Ahmansons have contributed significant amounts in the past:
American Anglican Council; Washington, D.C.
→Association of orthodox Episcopal churches, led by Rev. Canon David Anderson.
Biola University; La Mirada, California
California Policy Center; Tustin, California
Calvin College; Grand Rapids, Michigan
→Roberta Ahmanson graduated from Calvin College in 1972.
Chalcedon Foundation; Vallecito, California
Chapman University; Orange, California
→By way of Fieldstead & Company, Ahmanson sponsors series of conferences and events predominantly focused on matters such as housing policy and urbanism, all held at Chapman University's Wilkinson College for Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
Claremont Institute; Claremont, California
→Think tank seeking "to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life."
Discovery Institute; Seattle, Washington
Social advocacy and political involvement
Ahmanson was a major advocate for the abolition of California redevelopment agencies, especially concerned about what he viewed as the widespread abuse of eminent domain and public subsidies. He financed the publication "Redevelopment: The Unknown Government" and the formation of Municipal Officials for Redevelopment Reform (MORR), alongside Chris Norby, California legislator and former mayor of Fullerton, California, in 1995. Norby later served in the California State Assembly when redevelopment agencies were abolished in 2011 and MORR was disbanded, having succeeded in its sole purpose.
Ahmanson was a registered Republican until 2008; Ahmanson, worried about the narrowing focus of the California Republican Party on lowering taxes, announced that he switched parties and was a registered Democrat from 2008 to 2018. Finding fault with both parties, he is now officially registered as a "No Party Preference" (NPP) voter (formerly referred to as a decline-to-state voter by the state of California). In the 2020 presidential election, Ahmanson voted for and endorsed Brian T. Carroll of the American Solidarity Party.
Time magazine included the Ahmansons in their 2005 profiles of the 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America, classifying them as "the financiers." In the 1970s, Howard became a board member of the Chalcedon Foundation and served until 1996. In 1996, he said he had left the Chalcedon board due to the fact that he "did not embrace" all of the teachings held by its leadership.
In 2004, the Orange County Register wrote a five-part profile of the Ahmansons.
Holding a strong interest and passion in the activity of standup paddleboarding, Ahmanson has assumed a role of activism alongside FreeSUP SoCal in opposition to a particular determination made by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) that has been used to require operators of standup paddleboards to wear a personal flotation device (PFD). FreeSUP SoCal maintains that a leash is the more common and frequently most effective safety equipment, as evidenced by its widespread usage and the sport's significantly diminished mortality rate compared to other water sports. In 2014, the organization that would come to be known as FreeSup SoCal and which receives funding by Ahmanson, offered a formal, public comment to the USCG that explained how the PFD determination which was intended to promote safety for standup paddleboarders sorely lacked data justifying the determination, and that making determinations without the necessary data could have the opposite effect of putting paddleboarders in peril.
Arts and humanities
Organizations
Ahmanson has made numerous contributions and offered support for art initiatives across Los Angeles and Orange County. The following is a collection of organizations and projects in the arts & humanities that have benefited from his support:
Bridge Projects
Stanley Spenser: An English Vision installment at the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
The Sacred Made Real
Visual Commentary on Scripture (VCS)
Caravaggio: The Final Years at the National Gallery, London
Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra
Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, published by InterVarsity Press
The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco
The Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico City
Bridge Projects
Bridge Projects is an LA-based art gallery that consists of a community of artists, scholars, and collectors who are inspired by art history, spirituality, living religious traditions, and contemporary art practices. Roberta, wife of Ahmanson and current chair of Bridge Projects, founded the gallery and community with LA-based artist, Linnea Spransy, back in 2017. While Howard played a supportive role in bringing this project to fruition, Roberta spearheaded the vision for Bridge Projects, which has featured a number of progressive art installations, such as:
"10 Columns," an immersive light installation created by prominent Southern California artist, Phillip K. Smith III(active:10/12/19-2/16/20).
"A Composite Leviathan," a two-part exhibition created by a collection of emerging Chinese artists (active: 9/12/20-2/27/21).
"To Bough and To Bend," an exhibition of many artists using trees as imagery for discussions around ecological issues (active: 03/11/20-07.25/20).
Personal life
In 1986, Ahmanson married journalist Roberta Green.
Ahmanson lives with Tourette syndrome. His primary residence is in Newport Beach, California.