Between football games this weekend, check out the new issue of Haute Living for a great profile on “Joe Lacob: The Charitable Champion.” Lacob, co-executive chairman, CEO and governor of the Golden State Warriors made a major donation to Olin earlier this year to establish the Joseph S. Lacob Business of Sports Speaker Series and to support the new undergraduate minor in sports business.
Here’s an excerpt from the article by Kelly Carter:
Long before he bought the Warriors, Lacob’s philanthropic interests focused on education, both in the community and with universities. Endowment may not be what he wants for his NBA team’s foundation, but when he started making serious money at Kleiner Perkins, he endowed athletic and academic scholarships at Stanford. Deciding that the Warriors Community Foundation would make education its thrust was a natural progression.
“I’m not a guy who spreads it wide; I go deep whenever I do something,” he asserts.
Last year, he donated $1 million to help fund a new sports management program at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. His son, Kent, was captain of that school’s basketball team; now he works for his dad as Golden State’s coordinator of basketball operations.
“I wanted to do something because of the great job they did with him,” the Warriors managing partner says.
Lacob’s eldest son, Kirk, a Stanford grad, is an assistant general manager for the team. The man in charge, a divorced father of four, also has two daughters— Kelly and Kayci.
It’s a good thing Lacob doesn’t hold grudges. He applied to both Washington University for medical school and Stanford for undergrad. Both rejected him.
Lacob Image: WUSTL Photo Services
