An attorney, former school board member and philanthropist who served as the former head of what was then known as The Newhall Land and Farming Co.’s Newhall Ranch development, Steven D. Zimmer, died Saturday. He was 77.
In 1999, Zimmer became vice president of Newhall Land, the company that created and marketed Valencia starting in the 1960s.
“We are all saddened at FivePoint by the passing of Steve Zimmer,” Don Kimball, current leader for the development of Valencia at Newhall Land’s successor company, FivePoint, said Monday in a statement via email from Sandy Sanchez, vice president of government relations. “He will forever be remembered as an executive that gave much to the advanced planning and vision of what we are proud to call Valencia by FivePoint today. He was a passionate leader, dear friend and a mentor to many of us at the company over the years. Steve also took the time to give back to the greater SCV community that he loved. He will certainly be missed by all of us.”
His role for the developer involved spearheading the company’s planned communities west of Interstate 5, but he also became heavily involved in the local nonprofit community and school boards.
Prior to Newhall Land, he worked on the 1,200-acre Ormond Beach multiuse development project in Ventura County between 1989 and 1991, according to SCVHistory.com, and as project manager for the 1,000-acre Carmel Del Mar project in San Diego.
During his time in the Santa Clarita Valley, Zimmer proved himself to be a dedicated family man and a community advocate, said Mike Berger, a longtime friend who served with Zimmer on the board of directors for the College of the Canyons Foundation, COC’s governing board and the Child & Family Center.
“It was normal to see him three days a week, we used to carpool together,” Berger said, adding that Zimmer’s wisdom and drive to help others were “something very special.”
“Everything started with the family,” Berger added. “(His wife) Doris Marie was always so supportive and I think the base of his philanthropy probably comes from his family.”
Zimmer also worked as a guest lecturer for USC’s real estate development program and supported the Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition.
Zimmer took the COC board spot of state Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, when Wilk was first elected to the state Legislature in 2012.
“Steve was a stellar leader of our community with the great development work he did with Newhall Land, through his leadership in various nonprofits to raise the quality of life of all people in the Santa Clarita Valley, and then, of course, when I left the board to go to the state Assembly, Steve was appointed to replace me, and it was a serious step up in quality,” Wilk said. Zimmer would go on to serve two terms before retiring in 2020.
Wilk added there was no better person to have taken his seat because Zimmer “had a very sharp mind and could see the whole picture.”
Service information was not immediately available.