Business owner and philanthropist David A. Stein was a Jacksonville native who helped build Burger King and Applebee’s franchise networks across the country and, not content just as an entrepreneur, championed and financially supported a host of nonprofit causes.
Mr. Stein, who died Saturday at 85 after a long illness, also earned a reputation for “quick quips,” profound “David-isms” and telling it straight.
“He was an incredible man, unwavering in his mission to support his community … He was a steward for our community,” his wife, Linda Berry Stein, said. “He was one of a kind.”
Despite a “highly “successful” business career, he wanted to be known for giving back, according to his family. He wanted the words “He made a difference” engraved on his tombstone.
“This community has been very, very good to us and it’s our privilege to give back,” he said in a video provided by his daughter, Tracey Westbrook. “We are quite passionate about that. I’m trying to uphold the family tradition of making a difference in this community.”
Area nonprofits that benefitted from his giving back included the Jewish Community Alliance, which he helped found; the River Garden Senior Services, which his grandmother helped found; and Mayo Clinic, where he died. Others included the United Way of Northeast Florida, Jacksonville University, the University of North Florida, Florida State College at Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Humane Society, the Quality Education for All Fund at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, the North Florida School for Special Education, Leadership Jacksonville, Cathedral Arts Project and the Jacksonville Symphony.
From the JCA to colleges and nonprofits, David Stein was an ‘original,’ an everlasting presence
Mr. Stein was particularly proud of the alliance, which opened in 1983 and has had his continued support since. His vision was for a community center grounded on Jewish values but for the entire community, CEO Adam Chaskin said. The alliance was a “tremendously positive” voice, even when some people in Jacksonville did not appreciate diversity, he said, and was recently named best of its North American peers.
Mr. Stein and his family have been connected to River Garden since its beginnings as River Garden Hebrew Home, according to CEO Mauri Mizrahi.
His grandmother, Rose Stein, was a “founding visionary,” one of a group of women who campaigned in the 1930s and early 1940s for a home for the aged in Jacksonville. The original River Garden Hebrew Home opened in 1946 in Riverside; its successor, River Garden Senior Services is on Old St. Augustine Road.
“We have been fortunate to have David serve on the River Garden Foundation board 21 years and are honored to have our campus bear his and Linda’s name for decades to come,” Mizrahi said. “We are forever grateful for their generosity to River Garden and, as we promised David long ago, we will do our best every day to make him proud by serving the community with excellence.”
Mr. Stein and his wife were passionate supporters of education, particularly sponsoring and mentoring students at Jacksonville University, which was Linda Stein’s alma mater, and at the University of North Florida. Those students were called “Steiners.”
“David was an absolute original,” JU President Tim Cost said. “Along with his extraordinary wife Linda, they did so much for this community, and for our university and education broadly, he will be remembered forever here. … He really loved life and he thought we all should give plenty and serve often. We will miss him terribly.”
UNF President Moez Limayem said the Steins’ “generous gifts have changed the lives of so many UNF students and their passion for student success was truly unmatched.”
“Over the years, their UNF scholars received not only financial support but also wisdom, mentorship and deep-abiding friendships that will inspire and sustain them,” he said. “We are deeply grateful for David’s unwavering support for UNF and the city he loved so much.”
The couple also created the Stein Fellowship at the United Way of Northeast Florida, a dual mentorship program for the nonprofit’s young professionals. Created 15 years ago, the program has since graduated about 200 future philanthropists.
“David was an unwavering champion of United Way, active with our organization and supporting its mission to provide hope to others for more than 50 years,” said Melanie Patz, president and CEO. “Quick with a smile or clever quip, we will remember David as a genuine and kind community leader who cared deeply about future generations.”
Linda Stein also was chairwoman of the Jacksonville Humane Society’s capital campaign to reconstruct the shelter’s facilities that burned in 2007, killing 86 animals. She and her husband were major donors to the effort; the new shelter opened in 2017.
“David was so much more than a philanthropist writing generous checks — he cared deeply about the purpose and people he supported,” CEO Denise Deisler said. “He showed up and actively engaged, sharing his wisdom along with his wisecracking. We are so fortunate to be one of many who benefitted from his generous spirit. David became a cherished friend [and] … a convener and collaborator, connecting us to others he supported.”
Mr. Stein’s “seeding” of the Quality Education for All Fund to help improve local public education was a prime example of him as an “innovator and entrepreneur,” said Grace Sacerdote, executive vice president and chief financial officer of The Community Foundation. “He believed in his community and what could be accomplished when we collectively bring our unique talents and resources in service to others. We are honored to have worked alongside David … and will forever honor his lasting gifts to our community and the countless organizations he cared for deeply.”
Where it all began, David Stein worked his way up
The Jacksonville native was born Dec. 10, 1938, the youngest of three boys. He proudly called himself a “hometown boy” who lived in the same ZIP code his entire life.
As a teen, he worked in his father’s Burger King restaurant — the original one on Beach Boulevard that opened in 1954 — and graduated from Landon High School. Although he attended the University of Florida, he did not graduate, returning home instead to join the family business.
Ultimately, he was named chairman and CEO of Southern Industrial Corp., the original franchisor of all Jacksonville-area Burger King restaurants. He also founded and was chairman of King Provision Corp, which served Burger King restaurants throughout the Southeastern U.S.
Later, with Matthew Fairbairn, he co-founded T.L. Cannon Companies, which operates Applebee Restaurants in New York and Connecticut.
Westbrook said her father never crowed about his business success. His secret, she said, was “he knew how to pick good people.” When he got out of the Burger King business, he had three district managers who had started working for him when they were teenagers, she said. He sold three of his franchises to each of those district managers.
He also never made a big deal about being Jewish and was not particularly religious, despite his support of Jewish organizations, Westbrook said. His mantra for giving to any cause, she said, was “doing what you can because you can” and to inspire other people to give.
Upon making a gift to the alliance, he said to the assembled membership, “This is your JCA,” she said, encouraging them to “pick up the torch.”
“He didn’t care about recognition,” Westbrook said, only “to help build a better community.”
He explained with a George Bernard Shaw quote, Linda Stein said: “My life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can … I want to be thoroughly used up when I die.”
Despite his serious missions, Mr. Stein was fun to be around, Chaskin said. His frequent “David-isms” included “If it is to be, it is up to me” and “Every day that ends with ‘y’ is a great day.” Westbrook remembered another: “Ready – Fire – Aim,” jokingly referring to her “building Atlantic Beach Urban Farms with no farming experience,” she said.
He was an “extremely outgoing, warm person,” Chaskin said, and “was going to tell you exactly what he was thinking. I enjoyed all the time I spent with him.”
Mr. Stein met his wife 37 years ago at a party. He told someone at the time that he “was going to marry that girl” and did so two years later, she said.
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In 2021, the couple received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Fundraising Professionals/North Florida Chapter. And in 2017, Mr. Stein received the Gold Medallion for Lifetime Achievement, a humanitarian award from the OneJax interfaith organization.
Celebration of life services for David Stein
He is survived by wife and daughter; two grandsons and a great-granddaughter.
A celebration of his life will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Jacksonville’s Temple Ahavath Chesed, 8727 San Jose Blvd., which will be live-streamed at templejacksonville.org. A reception will follow at the Jewish Community Alliance, 8505 San Jose Blvd. In lieu of flowers, memorials should be made to any of the organizations he supported in his lifetime.
[email protected], (904) 359-4109
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Burger King entrepreneur David Stein dies at 85
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