Once upon a time in Irvine Ranch history

I often wonder what might have happened to the Irvine Co. had Myford Irvine lived.

Myford’s older brother James, who had been groomed by their father as heir apparent, died. Then the father, J.I., died, and in 1947, Myford, who had been living in San Francisco with little to do with the company, suddenly became a major stockholder and president.

Myford, or Mike as he preferred to be called, was a big, friendly, homely man with a peculiar, shambling gait. He loved to play golf and the piano, and was good at both. He was kind, thoughtful and generous. He was quiet, reserved and, in my opinion, shy and insecure.

But he was not unaware of his position as one of the wealthiest men in California, and he was painfully aware of his responsibilities as president of the Irvine Co. Mike also had a keen sense of social responsibility that his wealth and position brought him.

The whole world knows of the Boy Scout Jamboree because he turned his ranch over to the Boy Scouts for their annual event. Other aspects of Mike’s personality may not be so well-known.

One day, he invited a group of us to lunch in Santa Ana and announced that Santa Ana needed a Boys Club. It did, but no one had ever done anything about it. With him as a ramrod, we organized a successful Boys Club in that town. He put up some money but saw to it that the rest of us and the townspeople did the lion’s share of the work.

Then one night he had a group of us to the ranch for dinner and we met a man who was advocating some kind of a one-world program. I have forgotten the name of the man and the name of the organization, but this was during the McCarthy era, when any such notion was considered Communist-inspired.

The McCarthy influence was big in Orange County, and it took guts to present such a program, even for one as wealthy as Mike. Nothing came of it, but it was a courageous step in a sincere effort at doing something about world peace regardless of the popularity of the program.

The Irvine Coast Country Club (now the Newport Beach Country Club) was really Mike’s baby. In this respect, many may not be aware that he insisted that the club would never be completely private. By the terms of the lease, it had to be semiprivate.

Mike didn’t approve of private clubs. He thought they smacked too much of elitism and that everyone had the right to play golf, not just those who belonged to country clubs. This may annoy the present membership of the club, but that is Mike Irvine’s legacy.

Mike ran the company like a ranch. It was the Irvine Ranch, not the Irvine Co. Mike was the patron with a strong sense of community responsibility. Real estate development was sparse. The big-land development aspect occurred after Mike’s death. Of course, land development was inevitable, but I wonder just what path it would have taken under Mike.

Mike’s father intended that the ranch remain in the family. That was the purpose for establishing the foundation. I haven’t the slightest idea whether Mike could have staved off the sale of the company to its present owners. If he could have, I have a very strong feeling that relations between the company and the community would be radically different today.

We will never know. On Jan. 11, 1959, this kind, thoughtful and public-spirited but troubled man killed himself for reasons we will never know.

* ROBERT GARDNER was a Corona del Mar resident and a former judge who died earlier this year. This column ran originally in May 2001.

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