Dwight Schar

Dwight Schar grew up in rural northeast Ohio and graduated from Norwayne High School in 1960. He then attended Ashland University (then Ashland College) in Ashland, Ohio, where he majored in education. After graduating from Ashland in 1964, Dwight began teaching, and on the weekends, he had a job selling homes.[5] Schar soon left teaching to pursue a career in home building.[6] In 1980, Schar founded his own company, NVHomes,[7] which eventually acquired his former employer, Ryan Homes, in 1987; the company was thus renamed NVR.[2] NVR lost billions of dollars and was forced to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992.[8]

Along with his involvement in the Republican National Committee, Schar is also a well-known financial supporter of the Republican Party and numerous Republican candidates, making contributions through his company[9] as well as private contributions from both his McLean, VA home[10] and his home in Palm Beach, FL.[11] In 1989, Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Marshall Coleman was backed financially by Schar.[12] An investigation from the Richmond Times-Dispatch had discovered that one of Schar's companies had issued loans through the Virginia Housing Development Authority.[13]

In both the 2000 and 2004 Bush-Cheney presidential campaigns, Schar was not only a donor, but also a major fundraiser. In the 2000 campaign, Schar was a Bush "pioneer", the distinction given to those committed to raising $100,000 or more for the campaign. In the 2004 re-election campaign, Schar rose to the new level of "Ranger," raising $200,000 or more.[14][15]

Dwight Schar purchased a minority share, along with Robert Rothman and Frederick W. Smith, of the Washington Football Team, then known as the Washington Redskins. The three own 40 percent of the team. News outlets have speculated about the friction between the three and Dan Snyder, who owns the rest of the business.[16][17]

Ryan Homes, a business under the NVR umbrella, received a from Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) which asked the company to stop the practice of forced arbitration. Three senators joined in and asked that both Ryan Homes and NVR "remove the arbitration provisions from their agreements and stop requiring homebuyers to sign non-disclosure agreements in order to resolve disputes."[18][19] USA Today conducted an investigation that found that Ryan Homes "ignored warranty requests for dozens if not hundreds of customers nationally."[20]

A lawsuit filed by homeowners in Bella Collina, a community run by DCS Capital Investments, accused Paul Simonson, Randall Greene, and Richard Arrighi of "racketeering, embezzling and conspiracy." The lawsuit stated that the Homeowner's Association (HOA) should have been turned over to the homeowners, instead of DCS Capital Investments; it was dismissed by a federal court a year later. [21]

In 2006, he donated $5 million to his alma mater, Ashland University, to help fund the construction of their new education building. The university named the new building "Dwight Schar College of Education" in his honor.[22]

• Dwight Schar at Redskins.com