Developer’s New Goal: Build Faith : Peter Ochs to Trade Helm of Fieldstone for Missionary Work
By the time he was 9, Peter M. Ochs could be found on hisfather’s construction sites collecting stray nails in a tin can--the sixth generation of his family to show a passion for building.
The nails eventually formed a kingdom of houses, as Ochs grew up to create the largest privately owned home builder in Southern California.
But now Ochs, a self-made multimillionaire real estate developer and deeply religious man, plans to make good on his longtime claim to start another career at the age of 50. He and his wife, Gail, plan to leave for Spain in about four months, where they will learn Spanish in preparation for Christian missionary work.
The Orange County home building community is about to lose one of its most respected and envied leaders, as Ochs is planning to devote almost all of his time to missionary work in Latin America, just when the building industry is limping out of the recession and struggling to define its new role in the changing Southern California economy.
“He commanded the respect of all his peers in the industry,” said Sanford Goodkin, a real estate consultant in San Diego. “Ochs was a businessman who happened to be a home builder--but he could have headed any Fortune 500 company. He was elegant, disciplined and an excellent leader,” he said.
Ochs will remain as chairman of Fieldstone and will keep his undisclosed ownership stake in the company and two affiliates: Fieldstone Communities Inc. and Cypress Homes. But leading the Fieldstone Group of Cos. into the next century will be Keith Johnson, 51, the other co-founder.
“I feel I took Fieldstone to a stage, and I’m pleased with it,” Ochs said during an interview at his Newport Beach office, where he displays part of his large collection of California Impressionist paintings. “Now it needs to be taken to the next stage. And another hand on the wheel will be better.
“I see myself as an active chairman, though I won’t be very active from Spain,” he said. “I won’t be setting strategies--that’s the CEO’s job.”
Ochs’ move to leave at such a relatively young age recalls a decision made by another top executive: pizza baron Tom Monaghan, who retired as president of Domino’s Pizza Inc., based in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1989 to spend more time serving the church. But two years later, after unsuccessfully trying to sell the company, Monaghan was back as president.
Ochs doesn’t expect that to happen. He is committed to expanding “First Fruit,” a foundation he funds to raise the standard of living in other countries and recruit converts to Christianity. His ministry work will take him frequently to Latin America, but Ochs will also spend time in the United States raising money for his projects.
While working in remote locales, Ochs plans to travel light. Though he remains Fieldstone’s non-executive chairman, he will be virtually out of reach during his missionary ventures.
“If we are hit with a crisis--we’ll handle it,” said Johnson, the new CEO. “When he’s in Spain,” he said of Ochs, “I expect we’ll meet with him before he goes, then we won’t hear from him for three months.”
*
Ochs plans to leave both his collection of Fieldstone homes and his extensive collection of California art. The headquarters for his Fieldstone Group of Cos. now houses one of the finest gatherings of California Impressionist paintings anywhere.
“Collections, like a business, come to an end when you can no longer add substance to them. You can still enjoy it, but it is no longer as dynamic,” he said.
Ochs comes from a long line of home builders starting with his great-great-grandfather, who was a bricklayer. His great-grandfather was home builder, as was his father. Ochs values his heritage. One of the paintings in his office depicts a snowy street scene in Bethlehem, Pa.--the city where Ochs grew up.
After completing undergraduate studies at Princeton University, Ochs went to Stanford University, where he received a master’s degree in business administration in 1967. Upon graduation, he took a job in the mergers and acquisitions department of American Standard Corp. in New York, where he led the company’s entry into real estate development.
He left within a few years, though, because he wanted to create something not only valuable but also tangible. He came west to help form William Lyon Co., which by the late 1980s had become Southern California’s top home builder.
“Sometimes I drive through Orange County neighborhoods I built 20 years ago and just look at people living their lives in those homes,” Ochs said. “It’s very satisfying.”
He became president of the company in 1975 when founder William Lyon accepted an offer from the Pentagon to head the Air Force Reserve. Lyon returned in 1979 to reassume his previous position, but Ochs was not ready to step down. Instead, the two men negotiated a compromise in which Ochs exchanged his stake in the Lyon Co. for ownership of the company’s holdings in San Diego.
“I learned a tremendous amount from him,” Ochs said of Lyon, who could not be reached for comment. “We’re friendly competitors now.”
Two years later, Ochs and Johnson, who was head of the San Diego division, pooled their resources and spun off from William Lyon Co. to form Fieldstone Co. Since 1981, the company has built 12,500 homes in Southern California, generating sales of $2.5 billion.
*
In an industry known for its shoot-from-the-hip mavericks, the soft-spoken Ochs earned the reputation of being just the opposite: thoughtful and deliberate. Associates describe him as someone they can trust to close a deal with just a handshake.
“Ochs is someone who really walks his talk,” said Jeff Rocke, vice president for development at the United Way, an organization that Ochs has actively supported.
Even business competitors and political foes say that, even when they disagree with his actions, they respect the man.
Tom Rogers, a San Juan Capistrano rancher, was involved in drafting Measure A, an Orange County slow-growth initiative that Ochs helped defeat.
“There’s no question that he’s out for his interests, like any home builder,” Rogers said. “Ochs is an adversary, but a person I would feel comfortable inviting to my home--unlike some other builders.”
Over the years, Ochs has also received a number of professional commendations. He was selected as National Builder of the Year in 1989 by Professional Builder magazine and in 1991, along with fellow Orange County developer Kathryn Thompson, was inducted into the California Building Industry Hall of Fame.
At the same time, he has done extensive charity work and is a highly visible patron of the arts, having served on the boards of the United Way, the South Coast Repertory Theater and the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts.
He also gives financial seminars at Mariners Church in Newport Beach, where he is an elder, to teach people how to be better stewards of their money.
“He’s created an army of givers,” said Kenton Beshore, senior pastor at the nondenominational church. “He has a powerful belief in God, and his company is value-driven. Integrity and truth-telling are all part of his corporate culture.”
Randy Bramel, a real estate specialist with Bridgeport Investment Co. in Newport Beach, has been a close friend of Ochs for 18 years and is a fellow member of a Bible study group that meets once a week at 6:30 a.m.
“I meet a lot of competent people in this business, but no one like him,” said Bramel, who goes cycling with Ochs and has accompanied him on ski trips to Vermont. “He is equally comfortable with someone who is the president of a Fortune 500 company and a blue-collar worker.”
Though Ochs is a member of some of Orange County’s most prestigious social organizations, such as Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach, he isn’t found regularly on the golf course or dining out with other developers. Instead, he and wife, Gail, typically spend weekends within their close circle of friends from church or Fieldstone.
“His life is his company, his family and the church,” said Roland F. Osgood, president of the Newport Beach division of home builder Kaufman & Broad. “He doesn’t go out for beers with the guys or go play golf on Thursday afternoons. When you see him, you see him with his wife. But in business he is tough.”
Those who know Ochs well say they are not surprised, though, that he has chosen a new career.
“Peter has targeted his whole life to do this,” Beshore said. “That’s why he didn’t call it the Ochs Co. He named it Fieldstone because he knew that one day he would step down and become more involved in his Christian activities.”
He will also be stepping away from Fieldstone Foundation, the corporation’s nonprofit arm. Established in 1983, the Foundation had assets of $8.6 million and gave away $1.6 million in 1993, according to its latest state filing.
One beneficiary of that generosity as been St. Joseph’s Ballet in Santa Ana. Beth Burns, who founded the ballet 11 years ago, said Fieldstone Foundation has given it more than $10,000 over the years.
“Peter’s generosity is an inspiration,” Burns said. “I wish I could find the words to express to you how Fieldstone is one of the model foundations. They don’t just write checks.”
Ochs drops by often, Burns said, to chat with the young dancers and even help them with tasks, such as stringing popcorn for decorations.
Gail Ochs, 50, said she and her husband “just consider philanthropy a focus of our lives, which means we often miss social events we’re invited to.”
The couple, who have four daughters and recently became grandparents, certainly don’t intend to sever their Orange County ties when they leave for Spain and plan to keep their custom-built house in Newport Beach and their vacation home in Deer Valley, Utah.
Ochs confesses that leaving won’t be easy. The departure, he said, will be bittersweet. “It’s such a drastic change,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for so long. It’s a huge adjustment process.”
He describes the move as re-potting--uprooting himself from one career and transplanting himself in another. He believes such changes are important, as is taking time out occasionally for reflection.
“The contemplative life in the 20th Century is a lost art,” he said. “Do I know how to do that? No. Is it scary? Yes. But we’re going to try.”
Profile: Peter M. Ochs
Company: Fieldstone Group of Cos.
Position: Co-founder and chairman
Age: 50
Education: bachelor’s degree in economics, Princeton University, 1965; master’s degree in business administration, Stanford University, 1967
Background: American Standard Corp., financial analyst and vice president of real estate affiliate division, 1967-1972. Co-founded William Lyon Co. in 1971 and served as president, 1975-1981. Co-founded Fieldstone in 1981 and still serves as chairman.
Awards: California Building Industry Foundation Hall of Fame, 1991; 1990 Builder of the Year; 1989 National Builder of the Year; 1989 California Builder of the Year. Numerous philanthropic honors.
Philanthropy: National chairman of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society of United Way of America; chairman of the United Way National Board of Governors; past president and three-term member of the South Coast Repertory Theatre Board of Trustees; chairman of the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts board of directors.
Personal: Lives in Corona del Mar with wife Gail; four daughters. Serves as an elder at Mariners Church in Newport Beach and is vice chairman of the U.S. Division Council of Wycliffe Bible Translators.
Attitude: “I will continue indefinitely to be fully committed to the company and its people. But I am looking forward to the opportunity for personal growth and growth among others employed here that this change of status will allow.”
Source: Fieldstone Group of Cos.; Researched by JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times
