Philanthropist Conrad Prebys dies of cancer

Conrad Prebys, one of San Diego County’s most successful business executives who gave hundreds of millions of dollars to a wide range of causes, has died of cancer at age 82.

His family, including life partner Debbie Turner, confirmed his Sunday passing at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest but asked for privacy otherwise.

The news of his death triggered a wave of tributes from the region’s political, medical, cultural and fine-arts institutions.

“He touched and emboldened everyone he met. His contagious optimism and selfless generosity have forever changed our campus and the entire San Diego region,” said Elliot Hirshman, president of San Diego State University, which had received more than $22 million from the philanthropist.

“We are privileged to have been a recipient of his thoughtful and giving spirit,” said Dr. Perry Nisen, chief executive of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in La Jolla. The institute was renamed after Prebys gave it $100 million.

“He was a guy who knew the value of hard work, and he knew that he needed to give back,” said longtime friend and county Treasurer Dan McAllister.

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Those comments were given very shortly after Prebys’ death was announced Monday. As the day progressed, the praise kept coming. Most people and institutions expressed the same central notions: Prebys was a humble man who followed his heart and his passions and gave where he felt the most joy.

Born in South Bend, Ind., on Aug. 20, 1933, Prebys came to San Diego in 1965. At age 32, he was starting over in a new town and a new state after working in a steel mill and owning a pizzeria back east.

He did not arrive as a successful businessman with a fat bank account looking for a new opportunity on the West Coast. Things, he often recalled, were much less certain than that.

“I had $500, no job, no prospects. I looked out at the ocean and said, ‘If I could just make a buck,’” Prebys recalled in a 2015 interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune.

His timing was decent and, as his friends are quick to note, his work ethic was strong. Soon he was scouting vacant lots for starter homes, a job that honed his knowledge of real estate and construction. Forty years later, that know-how had developed into a real estate empire — 90 properties and nearly 8,000 rental units.

As his business became ever more successful, Prebys began to give back, and he let his personal interests guide him.

For example, a childhood bout with blood poisoning led to curiosity about hospitals. Chris Van Gorder, chief executive of the Scripps Health network, said Prebys had a chance meeting with a Scripps doctor that turned into a conversation about the region’s trauma system. Prebys learned where he would be taken if he suffered a medical emergency.

“He said, ‘Maybe I ought to get to know what my hospital is like,’” Van Gorder recalled.

That process eventually turned into a $10 million donation to support renovation of Scripps Mercy’s trauma department. And that experience led to a much larger donation to help build the Prebys Cardiovascular Institute in La Jolla.

RELATED: Places named after the late philanthropist Conrad Prebys

Despite Prebys’ ability to write checks with seven or eight zeros, he never carried himself like a rich guy, Van Gorder said. For instance, he delighted in joining Scripps’ discount program at Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza.

“He didn’t lose his humble beginnings, and I think that’s really hard to do,” Van Gorder said.

In addition, a childhood spent happily studying the piano led to a lifelong love of the arts — and major financial gifts for them.

Barry Edelstein, artistic director for The Old Globe theater in Balboa Park, said Prebys often wanted to dig deeper into the work of the institutions that he supported. About three years ago, he received a personal visit from Prebys after directing a performance of William Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale.”

“He wanted to know, why did you do it that way? Why did you make that choice? He had a hungry, curious mind,” Edelstein said.

These visits were never about entitlement. People who knew Prebys said he always seemed to be excited, even humbled, to have access to people who were doing interesting things — be it performing music or sequencing genomes. Edelstein said Prebys understood that his success was equal parts good fortune and elbow grease.

“He saw himself as a lucky guy who happened to live in a country that rewards hard work,” Edelstein said.

Perhaps his highest-profile philanthropic act was in giving millions with Turner and fellow San Diego philanthropist Darlene Shiley to public television’s Masterpiece Trust, which supported the Emmy Award-winning British drama series “Downton Abbey.”

Here too, Prebys was following his passion. Obsession might be a better word, said Rebecca Eaton, Masterpiece Theater’s executive director.

“I’m sure he was a shrewd businessman. He was also a romantic. He loved England and he loved British drama. He could recite entire scenes from movies that he loved, and he would bring tears to his own eyes,” Eaton said, adding that the early donations from San Diego, led by local public broadcaster KPBS, were critical to getting and keeping “Downtown Abbey” on the air in the United States.

Though Prebys had a head for numbers and and a deep interest in science, it was clear that his heart ultimately drove his philanthropy, friends and admirers said.

“Conrad gave me his special rule for how he went about deciding what to support. He told me once, ‘If a proposal makes me want to jump up and down, I’m all in,’” said Mark Stuart, president of the San Diego Zoo Foundation.

The zoo was one of Prebys’ earliest and longest-running causes. Generations of children and adults have his generosity to thank for the Polar Bear Plunge, world-class elephant care center and new koala bear exhibit, which is billed as the largest outside of Australia.

The polar bears, Stuart said, got adored because they helped Prebys through a time early in his career when success was still an idea on the horizon.

“He told me he would come to the zoo when things weren’t going so well in his life. He would find his solace by going all by himself and watching the polar bears. There was something about how they jumped in the water and played with each other that just mesmerized him,” Stuart said.

Prebys’ family did not provide information Monday about survivors or give details about a memorial service.

For the record: A previous version of this story gave the wrong location of where Conrad Prebys died Sunday.