Stephen Adams (businessman)
Stephen Adams (November 7, 1937 – March 14, 2024) was an American businessman, private equity investor, and philanthropist. His holdings have included Good Sam Enterprises, a national publisher, retail stores, and member-based direct marketing organization directed toward owners of recreational vehicles and Adams Outdoor Advertising, an operator of outdoor advertising structures in the Midwest, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. His previous holdings have included operators of television and radio stations, print publishers, cola bottlers and community banks.[1]
Stephen Adams
November 7, 1937
March 14, 2024 (aged 86)
American
Businessman, private equity investor, philanthropist
Good Sam Enterprises, Adams Outdoor Advertising
4
Early life[edit]
Adams was born at Minneapolis on November 7, 1937, and was raised in Minnesota.[2] Adams received a bachelor's degree in 1959 from Yale University, where he was a member of Skull and Bones.[3]: 180 He received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1962. Adams is the son of long-time newspaper journalist and CBS radio and television broadcaster Cedric Adams.
Newspapers[edit]
In 2013, Stephen Adams' son, Mark Adams, formed Adams Publishing Group (APG). Stephen Adams served as Chairman of the board of Adams Publishing Group. APG is a Limited liability company that owns newspapers in over 20 states. It is currently headquartered in Greeneville, Tennessee.[18]
Political affiliations[edit]
Adams has raised funds for Republican Party candidates. He reportedly contributed over $1 million of billboard advertising (through his Adams Outdoor Advertising business) to support George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign.[19]
Philanthropy[edit]
The Adams Family Foundation, founded by Adams and his wife, Denise, has made grants to a variety of educational institutions including Yale University, Stanford University,[20] Westmont College, the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, and The Blake School. Adams donated $100 million to the Yale School of Music in 2005, the largest single contribution in the school's history to that point. Adams made the school tuition-free, joined the board, and funded the construction of the Adams Center for Musical Arts, which was dedicated in a 2017 ceremony officiated by Yale President Peter Salovey.[21][22] After being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, Adams donated the Yale Neuroscience Center.[23]
Awards[edit]
Adams was selected to receive the Arbuckle Award from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business in 2006.[24][25] In 2009, Adams received the Yale Medal, the highest award bestowed by the Yale Alumni Association.[26]
Personal life[edit]
Adams was married to his fourth wife, the former Denise Rhea. He has four sons from his first marriage to the late Virginia Susan Ridgway: Stephen Marcus, Mark Charles, Kent Ridgway, and Scott Learned Adams. Ridgway was the granddaughter of John Ridgway, co-founder of IDS (now known as Ameriprise Financial). Ameriprise Financial is a Fortune 200 company with a market capitalization of $21 billion. The Ridgway family sold their interest in IDS to American Express in 1984 for $600 million. IDS/American Express subsequently was renamed American Express Financial Advisers, and subsequently was spun off by American Express as its own publicly traded company in 2005, and renamed Ameriprise Financial. The company's flagship corporate headquarters, the IDS Centre, is the tallest building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, designed by Phillip Johnson and completed in 1974, although it no longer houses Ameriprise's corporate headquarters. Adams lived in Roxbury, Connecticut; Healdsburg, California; Big Timber, Montana; and Saint Emilion (Bordeaux), France.
He died at his home in Roxbury on March 14, 2024, at the age of 86.[2]