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Towering over the landscape: Starting from humble roots, developer Angelo Tsakopoulos has built an empire(Sacramento Bee, The (CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 12--The year was 1958, and Sacramento State College had moved to its new campus on the site of a former peach orchard. The trees still were spindly, and the school had the raw look of a construction site. Angelo Chicos posed for his yearbook photo in silk shorts, tank top and black lace-up shoes as a member of the short-lived but vaunted Sac State boxing team. Noticeably smaller than his teammates, he raised gloved fists, struck a fighting stance and gazed calmly at the camera with big brown eyes. At 21, Chicos already had stockpiled experiences likely unfathomable to many of the undergraduates smiling from the yearbook pages around him: war, deprivation, emigration and stints as both a shoeshine boy in Chicago and a farmworker in Lodi. And he had begun laying the groundwork for his future as Angelo K. Tsakopoulos, arguably the most significant force to shape Sacramento since John Sutter. His former boxing teammates say the elements of his larger-than-life persona were present even in the days when he was studying business, philosophy and history under the Americanized surname of Chicos, one he later dropped to reclaim the family name. This was, after all, the same young man who nearly seven years earlier had sailed from his native Greece alone, steaming past the Statue of Liberty on his 15th birthday. As a college student, he waited tables at night in the tony Del Prado restaurant and sold real estate on weekends. He eventually would leave Sac State a few credits shy of graduation to work full time. "He was a pretty good puncher for his size," recalled former teammate Norm Tavalero, a retired Shell Oil Co. manager who lives in Shingle Springs. "He liked everybody, but he was such a determined guy that boxing was a very good sport for him. He wanted to win. He was an achiever." Teammate Bob Bell remembers seeing another quality when he watched young Angelo spar. Or maybe it's just in retrospect, since he has been friends with Tsakopoulos ever since and spent years as his lawyer and business partner. "He was very tenacious, very patient and he always kept a cool head - kind of like the way he has lived his life," said Bell, now retired and living in Oregon. "You can't get too excited. You get hit, you just kind of wait. You've got to figure out the opponent a little bit. Sometimes people get hit and they immediately go on the attack and wear themselves out." A lifetime of determination, patience and careful calculation has enabled Tsakopoulos to assemble a land empire so large that no other developer in the region can claim to be in the same league. Over the course of three decades, Tsakopoulos has shaped the contours of modern Sacramento. His AKT Development has played a starring role on nearly every major growth frontier in the region. Tsakopoulos was responsible for developing large portions of Roseville and Folsom and Sacramento's Pocket and South Natomas neighborhoods. More than half the single-family homes built or planned for North Natomas occupy land he once controlled, as do about half the houses built in Elk Grove since the late 1980s. He was the first developer - and the only one so far - to obtain approvals to build in Sunrise Douglas, a large swath of prairie on the edge of Rancho Cordova that eventually is expected to have 22,000 homes. And Tsakopoulos, now approaching 70, isn't done putting his imprint on Sacramento. Through myriad real estate partnerships, the developer controls about 40,000 acres of land in the region and neighboring San Joaquin County, far more than any other individual. It's not just the size of Tsakopoulos' holdings that makes him the region's most powerful player. Much of his land is strategically located just outside cities or other areas already approved for growth, or along potential highway extensions. What Tsakopoulos decides to do with this land - and what elected officials around the region allow him to do with it - will determine how Sacramento looks 10 years from now. "I've never known of a single individual or company to be in such a powerful position to shape the future of a major metropolitan region," said Mike McKeever, executive director of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, the transportation planning agency for the six-county area. Tsakopoulos' presence in the regional consciousness has grown so large over the past 30 years that in a sense he's been transformed into a symbol. A discussion about him usually reflects how the speaker feels about the region's explosive suburban growth. Anyone who knows anything about land-use issues locally doesn't even bother to use his last name. He is simply "Angelo." "I think in many respects he's become a symbol on either side of the growth debate," said Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson. "People who want to see Sacramento grow into the proverbial world-class region see Angelo as someone who has both the drive and the ability to advance that cause significantly. "People who are inclined to think we're growing too much and too fast and in a fashion that is undesirable see Angelo as the guy who epitomizes sprawl and all things negative." Tsakopoulos has climbed to his lofty position through uncommon business acumen and sheer tenacious force of personality. He turns on the charm with politicians, plays hardball with environmental regulators and promotes big ideas for the region. In recent years, he has taken to dangling carrots that meld a community goal with proposals to open more land for development. Two recent proposals: He's offered to donate farmland he controls in Placer County for a private university and to help fund its construction by developing adjacent acreage; the university project would create a peninsula of growth amid thousands more acres of farmland held by Tsakopoulos and his partners, increasing pressure to develop there as well. He's also suggested the region open thousands of acres of ranchland he controls along the Sacramento-El Dorado County line for development, using some of those proceeds to fund a new arena for the Sacramento Kings. Tsakopoulos won't say how much he's worth. But in the hot real estate market of the past decade, when the supply of buildable land became increasingly tight, he held much of the inventory. The developer ranks 16th on the 2005 list of the 50 wealthiest Greek Americans in the United States compiled by the National Herald, the nation's only Greek language daily newspaper. The publication pegs his fortune at $390 million. Tsakopoulos recently diversified by investing in a variety of office buildings around town, including such downtown landmarks as Meridian Plaza, Esquire Plaza and One Capitol Mall. He grows wine grapes on his Borden Ranch in southern Sacramento County; walnuts at an orchard outside Wheatland. Development has become a family business. Tsakopoulos' older brother George, 78, followed him to Sacramento, and also went into real estate. George and his children, including a son named Angelo G., control thousands of acres in the region. The patriarchs maintain separate operations, but sometimes invest together. Two of Tsakopoulos' children have gone to work for their father. Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, 40, is president of AKT Development, the family's main development business, while her brother Kyriakos, 36, runs KT Development, which manages the family's Placer County holdings. Tsakopoulos also has carved out a place for himself as a major player and fundraiser in the Democratic party, and as a standard bearer for Greek political and cultural interests. The son of a butcher from the village of Rizes in southern Greece, Tsakopoulos counts as his friends some of the most influential leaders in both the United States and Greece. His family has hosted fund-raisers for Bill and Hillary Clinton, and he was among the contributors invited to sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom when Bill Clinton was president. Tsakopoulos recently entertained Constantine Mitsotakis, the former prime minister of Greece, and his daughter, the mayor of Athens, in a visit to Sacramento. Tsakopoulos praises American democracy with an exuberance often found among immigrants reared under repressive regimes. During his childhood, his country was occupied by Nazis, then wracked by civil war. His father struggled to feed five children. While he contributes to the campaigns of Republican candidates in some local political districts, Tsakopoulos focuses most of his giving on Democrats. This makes him a potent force in the city of Sacramento and state government, both dominated by the Democratic Party. The developer and his children spent about $7.3 million on state and local campaigns, ballot measures and political action committees over the past decade, according to records filed with the secretary of state's office. Another $1.4 million went from Tsakopoulos, his children, and his wife, Sofia, to federal candidates, the Democratic Party and various Democratic committees between 1995 and 2005. A few of the major recipients include former Gov. Gray Davis, state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi. Many members of Congress, including U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, have received campaign contributions from the family. Tsakopoulos also is dedicated to advancing the careers of Greek American politicians. He hired a young Sacramentan named Phil Angelides, mentored him in the development business, and later became his primary political patron. Tsakopoulos and his children spent about $2.9 million - about 40 percent of their total state and local contributions - to bankroll Angelides' runs for office between 1995 and 2005. Angelides, now state treasurer, is running for governor. Sacramento County Sheriff Lou Blanas, a fellow Greek American who is distantly related to Tsakopoulos by marriage, also enjoys the developer's friendship and political backing. Tsakopoulos' devotion to his countrymen extends beyond politics. For instance, he once helped support acclaimed painter Gregory Kondos for several years so the artist could quit teaching and focus on his work. "He said, 'you're a Greek and a good artist, so I want to do it for you,' " Kondos said. Tsakopoulos and his children have spent millions to create professorships in Hellenic studies. The developer donated more than 70,000 ancient and modern Hellenic texts to his alma mater, California State University, Sacramento. Back in Greece, he helped fund reconstruction of an ancient temple to Zeus. His six children by ex-wife Elaine and current wife, Sofia, have Greek names. When daughter Eleni married journalist Markos Kounalakis, now publisher of the political magazine Washington Monthly, family and friends traveled to Turkey so she could be walked down the aisle in Istanbul by the world leader of Greek Orthodox Christians. "I'd say (Tsakopoulos) is one of the three most important Greeks in the country in terms of helping out in different aspects of life in the community and in promoting Greek interests through his many ways into the U.S. government," said Antonis Diamataris, editor and publisher of the National Herald. (The others, he said, are multimillionaire Stockton developer Alex Spanos and Michael Jaharis, founder of Florida-based KOS Pharmaceuticals.) Tsakopoulos also is one of the Sacramento region's biggest philanthropists. A few of the recipients: the Crocker Art Museum, the UC Davis MIND Institute, Loaves & Fishes and the American Lung Association. "He's got about four or five careers in one - it's amazing," said college friend Bell, who now duck hunts with Tsakopoulos on a ranch the developer owns outside Davis. Philosophy of housing supply and demand Angelo Tsakopoulos' brown eyes have narrowed since his college boxing picture. Today, they're hooded by bushy salt-and-pepper eyebrows. The top of his head is balding, and his remaining hair has turned from brown to white. But he retains his compact athlete's physique, honed by years of skiing, golf and racquetball. Impeccably dressed and flanked by lawyers, Tsakopoulos routinely sits through tedious public meetings to further his cause before city councils and boards of supervisors in the region. All along, the developer says, he has been motivated by the desire to provide people with a home of their own. To him, it's an issue of supply and demand: Restrict housing supply, and prices will shoot up; increase it, and they will stay reasonable. "What I see today in our society is two or three families living in one home; I see people living under bridges," he declared during an interview in December 2004 at his brick office building near Sacramento State. "Get on a helicopter and fly all around our area, and you'll see that we have miles, hundreds of miles, of land that is undeveloped. Certainly we can find somewhere to build homes for our children, for our brothers and sisters." Tsakopoulos argues that nothing less than the future of the United States is at stake. "Unless the citizens have a reason, a good reason, to defend their country, the country will fail. And the way for them to do that is for them to have a stake, a real stake, in the survival of the country. "In our country, homeownership has been the American dream. This is our business: to assist our citizens to have home ownership." Tens of thousands of people live in communities ushered into being by Tsakopoulos. They have chosen to call them home for a variety of reasons: affordability, safety, space, quiet. These are prototypical American suburbs, with quiet curving streets that lead to multilane thoroughfares teeming with traffic and lined with big-box retail stores. "I love it here," said Elaine Simpson, 65, who paid about $130,000 eight years ago for her 1,400-square-foot stucco home in the Laguna Creek section of Elk Grove. "I feel comfortable, and the people are nice," she added. "I can go to the park with the dogs at night and I don't have to worry." Tsakopoulos didn't actually build Simpson's house, but the developer was intimately involved in deciding what her community would look like. AKT Development designs community plans, obtains government approvals to build and sells property to home builders. Sometimes it installs basic improvements such as streets and sewers. Sometimes, it leaves that to others. Many of AKT's projects are managed by River West Investments, a company formerly headed by Angelides. The neighborhoods built on AKT land range from modest tract houses to luxurious homes lining artificial lakes. Patty Kerins said her husband and 3-year-old son enjoy steering their paddle boat around the lake behind their spacious house in Laguna West. When her family comes to visit in the summer, they relax in the backyard, which features a patio overlooking the water and steps down to their private dock. "I like it because the houses are not too close together," she said. "It's nice and quiet. My husband likes a lot of privacy." While these homeowners are living out their versions of the American dream, critics say such suburban developments - the norm in the building industry for more than 50 years - have created a nightmare of traffic congestion, dirty air and habitat loss. Former Sacramento County Supervisor Grantland Johnson, who was backed by Tsakopoulos during his political career, takes issue with the developer's argument that more suburban development helps keep housing within financial reach of the masses. He noted that Tsakopoulos belongs to a group of developers who fought the county's recently adopted requirement that 15 percent of new housing be affordable to low-income people. "In Sacramento and other places, you are increasingly facing de facto segregation on the basis of income," said Johnson, who went on to serve as a top health and human services official in the administrations of both Gov. Davis and President Clinton. Car-dependent suburbs like the ones built by Tsakopoulos, he said, "reinforce isolation and reduce mobility for aging seniors." Johnson's criticisms are tame compared with those leveled by the local environmentalists who view Tsakopoulos as their most formidable foe. He pushes the envelope of growth outward, often onto land they want to see protected. They contend he has no respect for growth limits adopted through the community planning process, and that he uses political influence to undermine efforts to protect habitat. "The sprawl game, which you win by converting the most land to the most money in the shortest possible time, has done more to destroy our natural areas and undermine public health than any other trend of the past half century," said Mike Eaton, a longtime leader in the local environmental community. "Angelo has been the unequaled master of that game and to a large extent has defined its local rules. His intelligence and charm have made him seemingly an irresistible force." Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, president of AKT, said the popular image of her father as caring only about development is incorrect. About a third of the land he buys, she said, is intended to provide wildlife habitat to mitigate for development, and another third is purchased for its value as farmland. Aside from having a good eye for development land, "he has an equally, if not better, eye for land that's prime for conservation and prime for farming," she said. Environmentalists respond that developers such as Tsakopoulos are required to provide land for habitat mitigation. And they scoff at the notion of him as a conservationist, given the thousands of acres of open space he has converted to subdivisions. John Hopkins, president of the Institute for Ecological Health in Davis, cited the private university Tsakopoulos seeks to build in Placer County as an example of how the developer entices communities to go along with more growth. "He didn't give land inside an urban boundary, he gave land outside an urban boundary," Hopkins said. "In my mind, that's nothing but another attempt to open up more land for development." Vicki Lee, conservation chair of the Sierra Club's Sacramento chapter, doesn't know Tsakopoulos well. But he looms large in her life as an opponent who has regularly outmaneuvered her when it comes to persuading elected officials how to proceed with community planning. "Everybody speculates about what it is that fuels the man's interest," said Lee. "It's not the money, that's for sure. It can't be power. He's got enough money, he's got enough power. Is it just a game of chess with society?" "He's got some propensity to challenge the natural order of things," Lee said, "and he's able to do it because he can get the jurisdictions to cave." Taking the long view, with a personal touch Those who know Tsakopoulos say his ability to predict urban growth patterns, to look at a map and know which areas will fill in next, goes a long way toward explaining his extraordinary success. "He's got greater vision than anyone I've ever met as far as real estate is concerned," said Brian Vail, who took over as head of River West after Angelides left to pursue politics full time. But vision isn't the only explanation. The kind of patience Tsakopoulos displayed in the boxing ring, and a good measure of nerve, set him apart. Tsakopoulos doesn't shy away from buying land that might not be developed for decades, a prospect that scares off most developers. He spreads the risk by attracting groups of investors willing to bet their money on his eventual success. He is adept at moving the levers of power, and carefully cultivates people of influence. His friends say he has an uncanny ability to read people and understand what motivates them. In conversation, Tsakopoulos' eyes twinkle warmly. He often grasps a listener's hand or touches them lightly on the elbow. He is at once formal and gracious, turning business discussions into something more personal. Bell, his former teammate and lawyer, said the secret to Tsakopoulos' charm is his skill at "making everybody feel very good." "He has the ability to sense what people are interested in, and really becomes interested in what they are interested in," Bell said. Throughout his life, Tsakopoulos has displayed a knack for making friends with people who occupy or will come to occupy positions of political power. In some cases, he has given their careers a substantial boost. Grantland Johnson recalled how Tsakopoulos signed on as one of his earliest supporters in 1986 when he ran for the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. Johnson was the first African American elected to the board. "I was mulling it over and wasn't quite sure whether to run," said Johnson. "Angelo called me and said, 'Mr. Supervisor, how are you doing?' It was sincere and strong support. I think he wanted to see a person of color elected to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. He talks often about what he experienced as a Greek immigrant, and says American democracy is best when it's most inclusive." But Tsakopoulos' relationships with politicians also have stirred questions about undue influence. The questions stem not just from Tsakopoulos' campaign contributions but also from his inclusion of politicians or their spouses in his real estate partnerships. Former state Assemblyman Art Agnos found himself under media scrutiny in 1981 when he introduced legislation that could have eliminated roadblocks to development of a piece of Folsom real estate that he and state Sen. Nicholas Petris owned in partnership with Tsakopoulos' father. The investment had been arranged by Tsakopoulos, who also gave Agnos and Petris tens of thousands of dollars in low-interest and no-interest loans. At the time, Tsakopoulos told The Bee he wanted to ensure the financial independence of the two Greek American legislators. In 1988, Sacramento County Supervisor William Bryan was fined $290,000 by the California Fair Political Practices Commission for accepting $256,700 - through a number of intermediaries - in loans from Tsakopoulos and failing to report their original source. Around the same time, Bryan voted in favor of a Laguna project and a community plan amendment the developer brought before the board. Tsakopoulos denied wrongdoing, and no charges were brought against him. Last year, U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui's investments in two Tsakopoulos land deals attracted criticism when she decided to run for her late husband Robert Matsui's seat in Congress. Documents revealed Matsui made a $214,000 profit over two years on her investment in two Tsakopoulos projects: one in North Natomas and the other in El Dorado Hills. The wife of Sacramento County Sheriff Blanas also holds a stake in partnerships with Tsakopoulos. In a major departure from his law enforcement role, Blanas last year took the lead in promoting Tsakopoulos' proposal to pay for a new Kings arena by developing about 10,000 acres of North Natomas farmland. He retired as spokesman for the effort after his wife's partnerships with Tsakopoulos were reported in The Bee. Documents filed with the federal government also show that real estate investor Paul Pelosi, husband of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, holds an interest in at least one Tsakopoulos partnership, an El Dorado County venture. Tsakopoulos declined to discuss his relationships with politicians. But the politicians themselves have said friendship, not politics, underlies their dealings with the developer. Jennifer Crider, a Pelosi spokeswoman, said Paul Pelosi "has been a friend and associate of Mr. Tsakopoulos for 20 years." Such investment arrangements do not violate the law unless a politician votes on an issue that could directly affect the value of his or her investment. Still, said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, they raise questions about whether Tsakopoulos is trying to buy influence. "He's not doing it for ordinary citizens; he's doing it for people who make decisions," Stern said. Patricia Foulk, a retired employee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is among those who contend Tsakopoulos has received special help because of such relationships. Foulk handled press relations for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the time of her retirement in 2003. "When I was at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, we were located in the federal building downtown on Capitol Mall," she said. "Congressman (Robert) Matsui's office was about two floors up. He was quite interested in making sure all the regulatory issues involving AKT Development went through very quickly. He would quite often personally come down. "It's really annoying to be trying to do your job with that level of interference." During the interview he granted for this story, Tsakopoulos expressed incredulity at the suggestion that the community would find him controversial. He said there would be no controversy about him unless The Bee created it. Tsakopoulos is contending now with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers over his proposal to move a portion of Morrison Creek under power lines to make way for a town center. The agencies intend to make the creek part of a wetlands preserve running through the Sunrise Douglas portion of Rancho Cordova. Tsakopoulos' property sits in the middle of the planned preserve. Paul Jones, a scientist with the U.S. EPA's Region 9, said the 13 other significant landowners in Sunrise Douglas made changes to accommodate the preserve, but Tsakopoulos is unwilling to do so. He said representatives of his agency and others involved in the dispute met with Tsakopoulos and his lawyers four times between October 2004 and January 2005 in an effort to resolve the issue. Jones said he could think of no other landowner with whom the agencies had met so many times to try to reach a compromise. "We got absolutely nowhere," Jones said. To move the creek, Tsakopoulos needs a permit from the Corps of Engineers. Internal corps memos obtained through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act show that Tsakopoulos enlisted high-powered help to intervene with the agency. He invited U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, to town and gave him a tour of the property. Thompson's office then sought more information from the corps about the status of the Rancho Cordova project, as well as another disputed project involving land Tsakopoulos owns in Elk Grove. In a flurry of memos, corps staff discussed how they would prepare for a March 1, 2005, meeting between Brig. Gen. Joe Schroedel, commander of the Corps of Engineers' South Pacific Division, and Thompson and Tsakopoulos to discuss the disputes. Following the meeting, according to a summary produced by Michael Jewell, then chief regulator in the corps' Sacramento office, Schroedel agreed to "work with AKT and Rep. Thompson on these projects" and to keep both Thompson and Sen. Feinstein apprised of their status. In May 2005, Thompson received $21,000 in campaign contributions from Tsakopoulos and his children. Thompson, whose district includes Yolo County, said he has known Tsakopoulos 30 years and intervened because he was convinced regulators were applying more stringent standards to Tsakopoulos than to other landowners. He dismissed any notion that the campaign contributions he received two months later were connected. He said he held a black-tie fundraiser last May at a Napa winery to celebrate his 15th year in office, and the contributions came from that event. "It was pretty spectacular," he said. No plans to ease up, but perhaps adapt? Tsakopoulos' battles with environmental regulators are part of the curious package of contradictions contained in his big personality. He is a developer, but also a passionate Democrat, a party he was drawn to, he said, because of its emphasis on education and social justice. Some of the politicians he supports are fierce defenders of the very laws - the U.S. Endangered Species Act, for example - that have caused him so many headaches in his business life. Grantland Johnson said Tsakopoulos is "a very complicated person," something he tries to keep in mind when they disagree on issues such as the environment and affordable housing. "He's incredibly bright; he's incredibly creative," Johnson said. "I always try to remind myself that people are complex, and people can look at reality and reach different conclusions." After all the successes, it would not be surprising if Tsakopoulos wanted to retire and hand off his business to his children. But he shows no signs of slowing down. He told The Bee he still gets "tremendous pleasure" from his business and charitable endeavors and has no intention of quitting. Instead, he has adapted with the times. Increasingly, his proposals are described in the "smart-growth" terms that local politicians are calling for in new development: more walkable, with higher-density housing. This new emphasis cheers some regional planning leaders who are well aware of Tsakopoulos' clout and the difference he could make if he throws his weight behind a more urban style of growth. McKeever of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments said he's confident Tsakopoulos intends to follow the community design styles endorsed by the Blueprint, Sacramento's new regional growth plan. "I am aware of several projects that he's involved in around the region where he is aggressively promoting and insisting on that kind of development," McKeever said. But it's the urban edge that worries environmentalists concerned about the region's spreading footprint. Tsakopoulos still owns plenty of land outside areas contemplated for growth, and recently bought thousands of additional acres. The developer himself declined to talk about his plans. Always the strategist, he is keeping everybody guessing. One sure bet: He'll still be in the ring. ------------ RECORD OF GIVING Tsakopoulos family political contributions The Tsakopoulos family reported making $8.7 million in federal, state and local campaign contributions between 1995 and 2005. Here are some of the major recipients: FEDERAL CONTRIBUTIONS Total, 1995-2005: $1,391,299* Major recipients: -- Various Democratic Party accounts: $826,300 -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York: $27,000 -- U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa: $21,000 -- Sen. John Kerry for president: $14,000 -- U.S. Rep. Mike Bilirakis of Florida: $15,000 -- U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine: $14,000 -- The late U.S. Rep. Robert Matsui, D-Sacramento: $13,700 -- Vice President Al Gore for president: $13,000 -- Former U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle: $12,000 -- U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer: $11,250 -- U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco: $8,200 -- U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento: $8,100 *Reflects contributions from Tsakopoulos, his children and wife, Sofia. STATE AND LOCAL CONTRIBUTIONS Total contributions to state and local candidates, political committees and ballot propositions, 1995-2005: $7.3 million* Major recipients: -- State Treasurer Phil Angelides, now running for governor: $2.91 million -- Tracy Measure U (failed ballot measure to loosen growth restrictions in Tracy): $664,425 -- Gov. Gray Davis: $346,524** -- Sacramento County Measure A (continuation of sales tax to fund local transportation projects): $201,271 -- Former state Senate leader John Burton: $176,423 -- Sutter County Measure M (advisory initiative on development): $146,570 -- Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante: $144,999 -- Sacramento County Sheriff Lou Blanas: $88,508 -- Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi: $73,000 * Reflects contributions from Angelo Tsakopoulos and his children ** Some of these contributions went to fight recall of governor Notable Tsakopoulos family philanthropy Angelo Tsakopoulos is one of the region's most significant philanthropists; his family has donated millions of dollars over the years to local charities, educational endeavors and the arts. Here's a look at some of the family's donations: 1989: Tsakopoulos donates $500,000 to fund scholarships for low-income and minority children at Catholic schools in Sacramento. 1998: Tsakopoulos donates $500,000 toward creation of the UC Davis MIND Institute, a research and treatment center for childhood neurological disorders. 2000: Tsakopoulos donates $25,000 toward the first endowed professorship at California State University, Sacramento, to be named for the late Sacramento Mayor Joe Serna Jr. 2002: Tsakopoulos donates his library of 70,000 written works reflecting ancient and modern Hellenic civilization to California State University, Sacramento. 2003: The Christian Brothers, a Catholic order, announce a plan to build a private college west of Roseville on 600 acres donated by Tsakopoulos and partner Bill Cummings. The Brothers later pulled out of the project, but proponents of the plan are working to attract another private university to the site. 2003: Tsakopoulos' daughter Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis and her husband, Markos Kounalakis, donate $1.2 million to establish a chair in Hellenic Studies at Georgetown University. 2004: Tsakopoulos' son Kyriakos donates $1 million to Columbia University to endow the Kyriakos Tsakopoulos Chair in Hellenic studies. 2005: The family donates $2 million to create a professorship at Stanford University to support the study of Greek influence on modern society. Bee research by Sheila A. Kern and Pete Basofin Sources: Bee news archives, American Hellenic Institute, Georgetown University ------------ Related graphic Tsakopoulos' regional imprint [222k PDF] |