George L. Graziadio Jr.

George L. Graziadio Jr. was born in 1919 in Vernon, Connecticut.[1][2] His father was a realtor, insurance businessman and auctioneer.[1] His paternal grandparents were Italian while his maternal grandparents were Irish.[1]

Graziadio graduated from high school in 1937.[1] He dropped out of college in 1939.[1] He took a road trip from Connecticut to Los Angeles, California with a friend in 1939, and decided to stay there.[1]

Graziadio started a commercial real estate development company with George Eltinge in the 1950s.[2] The two men built a hundred shopping centers in California and elsewhere, most of which housed Kmart stores.[2]

Graziadio and Eltinge co-founded the Comerica Bank-California in 1963.[2][3] The two men cobbled US$1.25 million together from their social circles to start the bank after they failed to have access to loans from banks for their real estate development projects.[2] It was later known as Imperial Bancorp.[2] It had "$7.4 billion in assets and 15 branches," and mostly made loans to technology and entertainment companies in the Southland.[2] For example, they made loans to Yahoo! and feature films.[2] Graziadio served as its Chairman until it was acquired by Comerica, a bank based in Detroit, Michigan, for US$1.3 billion.[2]

Graziadio donated US$15 million to Pepperdine University in 1996.[2][3] As a result, the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School bears his name.[4] Additionally, he donated US$650,000 to endow the George L. Graziadio Center for Italian Studies at California State University, Long Beach.[2]

With his wife, Graziadio endowed the George and Reva Graziadio Radiology Center at the Torrance Memorial Medical Center in Torrance, California.[5] They also donated to the "Mountain Communities Hospital in Lake Arrowhead, the John Douglas French Alzheimer's Foundation, Chapman University, UCLA, the Hugh O'Brian Youth Foundation and the YMCA."[5] Additionally, they were the 2002 recipients of the Humanitarians of the Year Award from the House Ear Institute.[5]

Graziadio was the 2002 recipient of the Horatio Alger Award from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.[1]

Graziadio married Reva Mikles, a native of Magazine, Arkansas.[5] They resided in Rolling Hills,[5] a gated community on the Palos Verdes Peninsula near Los Angeles, California.[2] They had a son, G. Louis Graziadio III, and two daughters, Mary Lou Graziadio and Alida Calvillo.[5]

Graziadio died of cancer on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in June 2002.[2] His funeral was held at the Firestone Fieldhouse on the campus of Pepperdine University.[2]