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F. Warren Hellman (July 25, 1934 – December 18, 2011) was an American billionaire investment banker and private equity investor, the co-founder of private equity firm Hellman & Friedman. Hellman & Friedman Raises $8.8 Billion Buyout Fund. Bloomberg, October 1, 2009 Hellman also co-founded Hellman, Ferri Investment Associates, today known as Matrix Partners. He started and funded the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. Hellman died on December 18, 2011, of complications from his treatment for leukemia.
Hellman & Friedman's strategy was to buy companies heavy on intellectual capital (typically financial services or software companies) and light on physical assets (such as manufacturers) with strong cash flows that needed operational improvements. In 1995, the firm purchased Levi Strauss & Co. from 250 family shareholders and consolidated it among four men including Hellman and then-CEO Bob Haas. The company reduced its debt and improved its earnings.
Hellman was married to Patricia Christina "Chris" Sander; they had four children: Frances Hellman, Patricia Hellman Gibbs, Marco "Mick" Hellman, and Judith Hellman. His funeral was held at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. Fog City Journal: "A Fitting Tribute to Warren Hellman, “The Prince of Humanity” by Kat Anderson December 22, 2011 When he died in 2011, he was remembered by SFGate as "the San Francisco financier whose willingness to fund an unlikely range of passions made him a force in Bay Area politics, education and music," and as a "Polymath."
Warren and Chris Hellman were also major Berkeley donors, contributing some $50 million either directly or through their charitable foundation. Among their many contributions are a $5 million gift in 1994 to support junior faculty research, a major joint gift in 2005 to support Cal's aquatics teams, and a $20 million endowment gift in 2018 to fund Berkeley's Hellman Fellows Program in perpetuity. From its inception in 1995 until its permanent endowment in 2018, Berkeley's Hellman Fellows Program supported 384 early-stage faculty members with awards of up to $50,000 for each fellow. Their foundation also supported various athletic programs, the Biology Scholars Program, the Lawrence Hall of Science, the Magnes Collection, the Blum Center, the Haas School of Business, and a host of undergraduate, graduate, and faculty initiatives.
Hellman's daughter, Frances Hellman, who holds a Ph.D. from Stanford, is professor of physics and Dean Emeritus of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at Berkeley. His daughter, Patricia Hellman Gibbs, M.D., the 2006 recipient of Berkeley's Public Health Heroes Award and a graduate of Williams College and Yale School of Medicine, is the co-founder of the San Francisco Free Clinic. Hellman's son, Mick, an investment manager, like his father and grandfather, graduated from Berkeley, where he studied economics (Class of 1983), and from Harvard Business School. His daughter, Judith Hellman, M.D., who studied microbiology at Berkeley (Class of 1984) and medicine at Columbia, is the William L. Young Endowed Professor and Vice Chair for Research at the University of California, San Francisco. Five generations of the Hellman family have attended Berkeley.
An avid skier, Hellman co-founded Stratton Mountain School in 1972. As a supporter of the then U.S. Ski Educational Foundation, Hellman served both as a trustee and president of the U.S. Ski Team from the late ’70s to mid-’80s. Hellman won the national championship in Ride and Tie racing (in his age category) five times and competed in the western States Endurance Run, a 100-mile ultramarathon.
Hellman was the Chair of the Board of Trustees for Mills College from 1982–1992, and as a result of protests reversed the college's decision to go co-ed in 1990.
Hellman was a Director of D.N.& E. Walter & Co. and Sugar Bowl Corporation. He was also a member of the advisory board of the Haas School of Business at Berkeley. In 1997, he was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement. In 2005, Hellman was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Hellman and latterly the Hellman Trust Foundation is the primary sponsor and provided funding for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass music festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Warren Hellman strums those recession blues. San Francisco Business Times, February 22, 2008 Warren Hellman: A tough banjo to pluck. San Francisco Examiner, September 20, 2008 Made Money, Makes Music. Forbes, October 5, 2006 In 2011, Speedway Meadow was renamed Hellman Hollow to honor his history of philanthropy and civic involvement in San Francisco.
Hellman was a donor and supporter of Jewish Vocational Services (JVS), a nonprofit organization that helps people transform their lives through work.
Hellman was the Chairman of the Board of The Bay Citizen, a non-profit news organization focusing on the San Francisco Bay Area. The Bay Citizen was founded with a $5 million contribution from the Hellman Family Foundation.
He formerly served as a Director of numerous portfolio companies, including Eller Media Company, Nasdaq Stock Market, Young & Rubicam and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
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