Lasting Memories

Sam Webster
1918-Feb. 18, 2013
Palo Alto, California

Palo Alto businessman and community booster Sam Webster died on Feb. 18 at 95.

The energetic, 51-year resident of Palo Alto perhaps was best known locally as a developer of the Garden Court Hotel on Cowper Street. But his business, Webster Financial Corp., focused on an array of real estate and agriculture investments including senior housing, federally subsidized low-income apartments and pistachio orchards.

He was an enthusiast of all things Palo Alto, writing a Guest Opinion column in the Palo Alto Weekly in 2010 about "Why I'm supporting Palo Alto schools, even at 92."

"I've had the benefit of watching generations of high-school graduates from Palo Alto take the world by storm with their achievements, and we all know from living here that Palo Alto students are not ordinary," Webster wrote, noting that his wife Kim and all three of his children had graduated from Palo Alto High School.

Among Webster's many projects was The Hamilton, a luxury 36-unit condominium project for seniors he developed when he and his wife decided it was time for them to move to their own style of senior housing.

Sanford Webster was born in Kingston, R.I., in 1918, where he grew up hearing stories about Palo Alto from his father, Samuel Harvey Webster, who had attended Stanford University in 1903.

In high school he was captain of an all-state basketball team and also was the New England Boys and the New England Juniors Tennis Champion. Later, he captained the tennis team at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and played at Wimbledon in 1946.

Three days before his West Point graduation Webster met Kim Sibley, his future wife.

"She was dating another cadet," Webster recalled in a 2001 interview. Sibley was a Palo Alto native attending Simmons College in Boston on a 1938 scholarship from Elizabeth Gamble, a Palo Alto benefactress whose home, the Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden, is now a city landmark.

Webster's ebullient style quickly shut out the rival cadet, and the couple became serious and began discussing marriage.

"But first I had to meet with Miss Gamble to ask her permission," Webster said.

Permission granted, they married in Palo Alto in 1941 and at the outbreak of World War II.

Webster spent the war in the European Theater, moving with the Army infantry up Italy from Anzio to Rome and then into southern France in 1944.

"I wound up commanding the lst Battalion, 143rd Infantry," he said in the 2001 interview.

A highlight was "taking the surrender of an entire German corps of about 100,000 troops -- the 17th SS Death's Hand Division. The commander and his assistant both later committed suicide to avoid prosecution," Webster said.

After the war, Webster was stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., where their first son, Sanford Jr., was born. Their second son, Jim, was born at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. And daughter Sarah was born at Fort Belvoir, Va.

Retiring as an Army Colonel in 1962, Webster and his family moved to Palo Alto. He started out working for a small company run by a friend. Bolstered by a $400-a-month military pension, he soon ventured into selling real estate.

"I was really made for it," he said. "I made many friends. I even saved two marriages -- of people who wanted me to list their homes as they filed for divorce. I talked them out of it."

Webster formed a group for small investors.

"No one was doing what I was doing. I was taking small groups of individuals who couldn't afford to invest in real estate on their own."

For an initial investment, "I took $1,500 apiece and bought a nursery," which he said became an excellent investment.

In 1967 he created Webster Realty, adding Webster Developments in 1970 and Webster Financial Company in 1981.

Webster was a nationally ranked senior tennis player until the age of 75. He also played golf.

He and his wife celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary in June.

He was a 39-year member of the Palo Alto Rotary Club and winner of the Tall Tree Award from the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce and the Lifetimes of Achievement Award from the senior center Avenidas, where he had served on the board. He also was a former board member of the Children's Health Council and Lytton Gardens III and on the advisory board of the Palo Alto Community Fund.

He is survived by his wife, his son Jim Webster of Berkeley, his daughter Sarah Webster Goodwin of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and four grandchildren. Webster's son Sam died while a student at the University of California at Berkeley.