Sanford Diller, founder of real estate development giant Prometheus Real Estate Group, died Friday of natural causes in Woodside, according to an obituary published today. He was 90.
Diller started Prometheus in San Mateo in 1965 and grew it into a major real estate development and investment firm in the Bay Area and throughout the West Coast. Today, the company is a juggernaut with more than 500 employees and 15,000 apartments in the Bay Area, Seattle and Portland areas. The company also has a sizeable office portfolio.
Diller and his late wife Helen Diller were known as much for their philanthropy as for their business acumen. The family foundation remains major supporters of University of California, San Francisco, museums, parks and Jewish programs locally and abroad. It has given more than $650 million to support UCSF student and faculty programs and cancer research, as well as tens of thousands of dollars to Bay Area organizations including the De Young Museum and Contemporary Jewish Museum.
Philanthropy runs deep in the family. Jackie Safier, one of Sanford and Helen Diller’s three children, serves as president of the family’s foundation and Prometheus. She also sits on the UCSF Foundation board of directors.
“The company is a means for the ability to give to nonprofits. So the better the company does, the more we can do great things,” Safier told the Business Times in October.
Sanford Diller had an interest in new technology and medicine when the family first became donors of UCSF. More than a decade ago, he met some of the university scientists and decided to make a major donation toward supporting cancer care and research. In 2003, the Diller foundation gave $35 million to establish the Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building at UCSF's Mission Bay campus.
“I’ve cured thousands of patients. This relationship is probably the most important one in my professional career,” said Dr. Peter Carroll, department chair and professor of urology at UCSF, in an interview last year.
Sanford Diller's parents, Jacob and Claire Diller, emigrated from Austria. Diller was born and raised in San Francisco and graduated from University of California, Berkeley. He later studied law at U.C. Hastings and University of San Francisco.
The family believed in Jewish values and has created various leadership and teen programs locally and in Israel.
In addition to Safier, Diller had two other children, Brad Diller and Ron Diller.
The family will be holding a private funeral service in Jerusalem, Israel. Contributions can be made to the Jewish Community Federation's Diller teen programs or the Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCSF.
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