Del E. Webb was a carpenter who moved from California to Arizona in the late 1920’s. There he built a multi-million-dollar empire. He eventually became friends with Franklyn D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and J. Edgar Hoover. From 1945 to 1965, he became co-owner of the New York Yankees. (During that time the ball club won ten World Series. With his can-do reputation, Webb became Time magazine’s Man of the Year in 1964. Young Webb himself was an ardent fan of baseball and an accomplished pitcher. On weekends he played semi-professionally.
Del E. Webb was born in Fresno, California, in 1899. He migrated to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1928 and worked with a small contractor building a new grocery store. One day his employer disappeared and his paycheck bounced. The grocer asked young Webb to continue the project and, with one cement mixer, ten wheelbarrows, twenty shovels, and ten picks, the Del E. Webb Construction Co. was born.
During World War II, the Del E. Webb Construction Co. built air bases and military installations in Arizona and Southern California. By the 1960's, it was one of the largest companies in the United States. Between 1964 and 1967, along with Larry E. Havstad and Associates, he built Loma Linda University Hospital. Because of the combined efforts of Havstad, Webb, and Architect Earl T. Heitschmidt’s, the total cost for building and equipping the new University Hospital was more than $10 million less than the $33 million originally estimated.
Sun City, the first major active-retirement community in America, overshadows all other Webb developments. It not only transformed the Phoenix area but also had a major impact on the sociology of vast numbers of retirees. Del E. Webb's Sun Cities are now home to more than 64,000 residents. Webb was justifiably proud of the part he played in developing "active" retirement living. He said, "When I see what we've built, it's the most satisfying thing that's ever happened to me."
Mr. Webb incorporated the Del E. Webb Foundation in the State of Arizona in September 1960 to ensure that his personal generosity would extend far beyond his lifetime. The Foundation is a private, self-funded, non-profit charitable foundation that promotes and engages exclusively in charitable, educational, medical services, and medical research activities of a public nature. In 1961, the Foundation received its first contribution from Mr. Webb and awarded its first grants. These gifts were relatively minor compared to those that followed.
The Foundation continued to operate on a low-key level until 1977 when the residual assets of the Estate of Del E. Webb (primarily over 2.8 million shares of the common stock of Del Webb Corporation, now a publicly-held company) changed the size and stature of the Foundation from small to one of Arizona's largest and most prestigious. The newly acquired assets significantly increased the Foundation's annual grant payout requirements, and its policy guidelines were then more formally set. Because of Mr. Webb's high regard for the medical profession and his general concern for health matters, grant emphases were placed on those organizations providing medical services, engaging in medical research, or operating educational facilities in Arizona, California, or Nevada.
In the latter part of 1982, in order to have assets liquid enough to pay out the annual grant requirements, the Foundation sold all of its shares of Del Webb Corporation for $28.2 million cash. The overall performance from their inception in 1983 was outstanding enough to enable the Foundation, in the years 1961 to 2001 (but mostly from 1984 on), to pay out $55 million in grants. The grants were awarded to more than 200 separate charities in amounts ranging from very small to quite large.
The Foundation awarded a $500,000 grant to Fresno Adventist Academy, Mr. Webb's alma mater, for the Del E. Webb Alumni Hall. Loma Linda University received $3.85 million for the Del E. Webb Memorial Library (1978). Loma Linda University Medical Center received $500,000 (1990) in support of its Proton Treatment Center. Three years later, the Del E. Webb Foundation made a further donation of $1 million to establish an endowment to fund research in proton therapy.