Donald G. Fisher '50
Founder and Chairman Emeritus, The Gap
Alumnus of the Year
Donald G. Fisher, founder and chairman emeritus of Gap Inc., is a visionary in specialty retailing. Since its beginnings in 1969 as a jeans-only store in San Francisco, the company he started with his wife, Doris, has grown and expanded to become one of the greatest successes in retailing history.
Over the next 35 years, Fisher as CEO and Chairman grew the Gap into one of the world’s best-known brands and largest specialty apparel retailers with annual sales of approximately $15 billion. The company employs more than 165,000 people and operates stores in North America, Europe, and Japan under the Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic brands.
In addition to his contributions to the dramatic growth and expansion of Gap, Inc., Fisher has long been a community leader and philanthropist. He serves on the board of trustees of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and is a director of the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco and a governor of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Fisher is a member of the California State Board of Education and a director of EdVoice, KIPP Charter Public Schools, and Teach for America. At Cal, he has twice chaired the Haas School of Business Advisory Board.
The recipient of presidential appointments to the Advisory Council for U.S. Trade Representatives, Fisher was named to the Presidio Trust board of directors by President Clinton in 1997 and President Bush in 2001. He had served on Princeton University’s Board of Trustees for eight years. In 1996, Fisher was honored with the National Retail Federation’s Retailer of the Year award. He remains actively involved in the California Business Roundtable and the Committee on Jobs Executive Committee in San Francisco.
Other honors include the California Arts Council Governor’s Award for Individual Patrons of the Arts and selection to the Bay Area Business Hall of Fame and American Academy of Achievement.
Mr. Fisher lives with his wife of over 53 years in San Francisco. They have three sons and 10 grandchildren.
Personal Statement
Luck played a big part in my life. The University of California, Berkeley was not my first choice of colleges—Stanford was. I didn’t get accepted to Stanford although I had the necessary high school qualifications. I also was capable of making the Stanford swimming team as a freshman but they still didn’t accept me. In the spring of 1947 my freshman year, Cal participated in a swimming meet as the Olympic Club - which included Stanford. Tom Hainie, the Stanford coach asked me why I didn’t go to Stanford and I told him I had all the qualifications but didn’t get accepted. Tom called me a few days later and told me I only had seven A’s and B’s and needed eleven to get accepted. I was surprised and looked into the problem and found that the secretary at Lowell High School had not sent my senior year grades to the admissions department ( I had five A’s). I decided not to apply to Stanford again as I would have lost a year of eligibility. I only related this story as I believe luck plays a big part in your life.
My freshman year was no fun as I commuted daily to San Francisco after swimming and water polo practice and if I had an 8:00 AM class the next day I was exhausted. However, I lived through my freshman year and lived at Bowles Hall as a sophomore. I then joined a fraternity for my last two years. I graduated six months late in January 1951 (although I consider my class 1950) in Business Administration and instead of applying to Business School I went right to work in my father’s mill and cabinet business which turned out to be an unhappy learning experience.
I have been on the Haas School Advisory Board for many years and have been the Chairman twice. I’ve continued to be active with the swimming and water polo program and have been part of a group with Warren Hellman, Rick Cronk and Ned Spieker to partially endow the men’s and women’s swimming, diving and water polo programs. Luck continued to play a big part in my life not the least of which was the peculiar group of five circumstances that gave me the idea to start the Gap in 1969. It’s been a wonderful ride and I owe a lot to the business lessons I learned at Cal. There is no way of duplicating my experience at Berkeley and I think I am a much better person for having gone to a big university; I had to fight for everything I got.
When Warren Hellman told me I had been selected for the Alumnus of the Year award I was both surprised and humbled. I can’t tell you how much it means to be recognized by this great institution—Go Bears!
