When Harvey Najim was serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston in the 1960s, he fell in love with a computer.
It was a homely machine, taking up an entire room, and it required punch cards and Flexowriter tape to perform even simple tasks. But Najim saw past its flaws.
“I was inspired by it,” he said. “I thought it was fun.”
His experience with that computer motivated him to seek a career in the industry. After leaving the army in 1967, he worked for IBM for 13 years before deciding, in a fit of restlessness, to start his own company, Star Data Systems. Today, the company, renamed Sirius Computer Solutions, is a leading installer of network systems, worth $1.3 billion.
But computers are no longer the focus of Najim’s attention. In December 2006, he devoted himself to another passion: early childhood education. After selling a major share of Sirius, he used $75 million of his fortune to create the Harvey E. Najim Family Foundation, which has since donated about $45 million to 162 children’s charities.
On July 1, the foundation donated $3 million to the Christus Santa Rosa Health System to help pay for the construction of a new pediatric hospital.
“I’m not big on the arts, nature, all that kind of stuff,” Najim, 73, said. “But I’ve always been close to children. I felt children were the future of our city, country, the world.”
Charitable success
By 2006, Harvey Najim had spent 26 years navigating his company through the mercurial computer industry, but philanthropy bewildered him.
“I didn’t know jack about running a foundation,” he said.
Since then, colleagues say, he has become adept at translating the attributes that made him a successful businessman — his attention to detail, analytical mind and good judgment of people — into his philanthropy career.
“He runs it like a business — that sense of, ‘If I give money, I want to see results,’” said Joe McKinney, vice chairman of Broadway Bank. Najim works with Broadway to pick the investments that raise the interest to fund his donations.
In 2011, the foundation handed out $4.4 million in contributions while spending $276,000 on its operations, according to its federal tax return for that year. It had a total of $72.2 million in assets at the end of the year.
Several San Antonio charity leaders described Najim’s attentiveness in overseeing the use of his money.
“He holds us to a model that must be a proven success, must be proven sustainable,” said Bert Pfiester, president of Respite Care of San Antonio, a charity that provides care for disabled children.
Najim has donated more than $1 million to Respite, allowing the organization to buy two homes where children receiving treatment can stay. The project began in 2007, when Najim asked Pfiester what the charity’s greatest need was. Pfiester told him they needed more space, so Najim suggested buying a nearby home — something Pfiester had never considered.
“He wants us to think big and really stretch,” Pfiester said.
Throughout the process of buying the home, Najim called Pfiester every couple of days to check up on things and give his input, turning down his first choice in favor of a location closer to the charity’s main offices in Monte Vista. When the house proved a success, Najim recommended buying a second one down the block.
Spiritual effect
Najim stops by Hope for the Future, a charity that helps pay children’s tuition to Catholic schools, about once a semester to give a motivational speech to students, urging them to stay in school, avoid drugs and have faith in God, director Julie Seguin said.
Faith has played a large part in Najim’s charitable work. He has made several donations to Catholic schools, although he attends a Methodist church and was raised in the Eastern Orthodox faith of his father, who immigrated to the United States from Lebanon.
“There was God in the classroom when I went to school, then they took him out, and look what happened,” Najim said.
The recipients of Najim’s aid are profuse in their appreciation of him, but Najim has mixed feelings about whether he’s more content as a philanthropist than he was as a businessman. He has struggled with the burden of choosing between charities hungry for donations.
Overall, though, he finds his philanthropic work fulfilling. It’s enlightened him with a broader perspective of society.
“I happen to live in northwest San Antonio, and I have a nice home,” Najim said. “Before I had my foundation, I used to see the world the way I live. I didn’t see the world the way the less fortunate people live.”
rwebner@express-news.net
When Harvey Najim was serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston in the 1960s, he fell in love with a computer.
It was a homely machine, taking up an entire room, and it required punch cards and Flexowriter tape to perform even simple tasks. But Najim saw past its flaws.
“I was inspired by it,” he said. “I thought it was fun.”
His experience with that computer motivated him to seek a career in the industry. After leaving the army in 1967, he worked for IBM for 13 years before deciding, in a fit of restlessness, to start his own company, Star Data Systems. Today, the company, renamed Sirius Computer Solutions, is a leading installer of network systems, worth $1.3 billion.
But computers are no longer the focus of Najim’s attention. In December 2006, he devoted himself to another passion: early childhood education. After selling a major share of Sirius, he used $75 million of his fortune to create the Harvey E. Najim Family Foundation, which has since donated about $45 million to 162 children’s charities.
On July 1, the foundation donated $3 million to the Christus Santa Rosa Health System to help pay for the construction of a new pediatric hospital.
“I’m not big on the arts, nature, all that kind of stuff,” Najim, 73, said. “But I’ve always been close to children. I felt children were the future of our city, country, the world.”
Charitable success
By 2006, Harvey Najim had spent 26 years navigating his company through the mercurial computer industry, but philanthropy bewildered him.
“I didn’t know jack about running a foundation,” he said.
Since then, colleagues say, he has become adept at translating the attributes that made him a successful businessman — his attention to detail, analytical mind and good judgment of people — into his philanthropy career.
“He runs it like a business — that sense of, ‘If I give money, I want to see results,’” said Joe McKinney, vice chairman of Broadway Bank. Najim works with Broadway to pick the investments that raise the interest to fund his donations.
In 2011, the foundation handed out $4.4 million in contributions while spending $276,000 on its operations, according to its federal tax return for that year. It had a total of $72.2 million in assets at the end of the year.
Several San Antonio charity leaders described Najim’s attentiveness in overseeing the use of his money.
“He holds us to a model that must be a proven success, must be proven sustainable,” said Bert Pfiester, president of Respite Care of San Antonio, a charity that provides care for disabled children.
Najim has donated more than $1 million to Respite, allowing the organization to buy two homes where children receiving treatment can stay. The project began in 2007, when Najim asked Pfiester what the charity’s greatest need was. Pfiester told him they needed more space, so Najim suggested buying a nearby home — something Pfiester had never considered.
“He wants us to think big and really stretch,” Pfiester said.
Throughout the process of buying the home, Najim called Pfiester every couple of days to check up on things and give his input, turning down his first choice in favor of a location closer to the charity’s main offices in Monte Vista. When the house proved a success, Najim recommended buying a second one down the block.
Spiritual effect
Najim stops by Hope for the Future, a charity that helps pay children’s tuition to Catholic schools, about once a semester to give a motivational speech to students, urging them to stay in school, avoid drugs and have faith in God, director Julie Seguin said.
Faith has played a large part in Najim’s charitable work. He has made several donations to Catholic schools, although he attends a Methodist church and was raised in the Eastern Orthodox faith of his father, who immigrated to the United States from Lebanon.
“There was God in the classroom when I went to school, then they took him out, and look what happened,” Najim said.
The recipients of Najim’s aid are profuse in their appreciation of him, but Najim has mixed feelings about whether he’s more content as a philanthropist than he was as a businessman. He has struggled with the burden of choosing between charities hungry for donations.
Overall, though, he finds his philanthropic work fulfilling. It’s enlightened him with a broader perspective of society.
“I happen to live in northwest San Antonio, and I have a nice home,” Najim said. “Before I had my foundation, I used to see the world the way I live. I didn’t see the world the way the less fortunate people live.”
