Edmund H. Shea, Jr. Dies at 80 and Leaves Behind A Legacy, Including Shea Homes 2

Shea's connection with Robert A. Kotick, who engineered the turnaround of Activision, the electronic games group, symbolized his investing technique. Although he cherished Activision's business plan, he was swayed to believe that Mr. Kotick and his business partner Brian Kelly had the disposition and capability to make Activision a success.

"When I called him on the phone the day of the closing, he called out to his assistant to pick up the phone, then he said, 'I have to pick up the dry cleaning, then I need to go to the dog groomer and get the dog and, oh, can you wire Bobby Kotick a million and a half dollars,'" Mr. Kotick said. "I'm not sure I was even first on his list that day."

The investment was incredibly triumphant, as Activision grew into an electronic games giant with a $13-billion market capitalization. He remained close to both youthful entrepreneurs. "He was one of my mentors," Mr. Kotick said.

Shea had a lengthy rapport with Hambrecht & Quist and served as a director until not long prior to it being acquired by Chase Bank in 1998. Mr. Hambrecht said, "Ed was a great partner of mine in every sense of the word, for over 42 years. He listened with an open mind to almost any idea, but kept a sense of discipline and business judgment that so often became the 'ballast' in our decision process."

In 1958, together with his cousin John F. Shea and his brother Peter O. Shea, Shea formed J. F. Shea Co., Inc. as a successor to their family's construction company, which their father’s father had begun in 1881 as a plumbing business in the city of Portland. The predecessor Shea companies had primary roles in the construction of symbolic United State’s public works, such as the Hoover Dam, the Golden Gate Bridge, and San Francisco Bay Bridge.

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