hile many young dot-comers in the area are forced to look for other work after their companies went bust, an 82-year-old Atherton entrepreneur has decided voluntarily to close his successful automotive-leasing business after 55 years because "it's just time to go."
Warren Spieker (pronounced Speaker), president of Redwood Lease Company of California, planned to retire when he was 65. "But I've done 17 more years," he says, "after my wife told me, 'I married you for better or worse, but not for lunch.' This will give me more time to spend with my family, including 13 grandchildren."
Mr. Spieker was honored last week by the Menlo Park Kiwanis Club in conjunction with the club's 50th anniversary: He is a founding member.
His children are major players in the real estate business, including Spieker Properties, a publicly traded company that owns and operates 38 million square feet of commercial properties in California and the Pacific Northwest. The company recently announced a merger agreement with Equity Office Properties Trust in what was said to be the largest real estate deal in Northern California.
In addition to business activities, Mr. Spieker is an inveterate traveler with his wife June (they've visited more than 200 countries); a self-styled "sports nut" (a 49ers fan and all-day Sunday NFL couch potato); a rigorous exerciser (swimming, walking, and athletic-club workouts); and an unpaid freelance writer (for a travel publication).
Called DiMaggio out
Mr. Spieker was born in 1919 and grew up in San Francisco where his father "was in the lumber business." He went to grammar school there and then to the private Tamalpais School in San Rafael.
"When I got the attendance prize, my mother said, 'But you also got a rotten report card. Any damn fool can get the attendance prize.'"
He went on to graduate from Stanford where he studied romantic languages and was the only male member of the class to do so. He aspired to be a journalist but, he says, there were more lucrative fields to pursue.
After graduating from Stanford, he served in the Army in World War II, rising to staff sergeant at a base in Southern California. Among other assignments, he was manager of a baseball team whose star was Joe DiMaggio. In one game, filling in as the umpire, he called the New York Yankee star out on a close play at first base, which drew boos from the crowd but a kind word from the ballplayer.
Sales and leasing
Following the war, Mr. Spieker began his business career with partner Bob Ethan, selling used cars at 500 El Camino Real in Menlo Park under the name of Menlo Motors Inc. They soon opened a second lot in Redwood City.
In 1951, he bought out his partner. Five years later, he decided to lease cars, changed the company name to Redwood Lease Company, opened an office in Redwood City, next door to Kaiser Hospital, and gave up the used car business.
Initially, the business leased new high-end automobiles. Over the years, however, the company has leased used and classic cars as well as pick-up trucks. Customers identify the vehicles they want, and Redwood Lease Company buys them, develops a financial package, including interest and debt-retirement payments, and delivers them to the customer's home.
It doesn't handle fleet leasing, because, Mr. Spieker says, "we are too small, it's too competitive, and the fleets want you to work for nothing."
For years, the company had a cost advantage over regular auto dealers. Redwood Lease arranges lower interest rates since it deals only with customers who have excellent credit ratings. Also, it is a low-cost, no-frills operation without service, showroom, sales people and other overhead. His tiny office measures 11 by 10 feet.
Starting 12 years ago when regular auto dealers decided to become more aggressive in leasing their vehicles, Redwood Lease's new-car leasing business has declined, and the company began leasing more used vehicles.
Since 1956, Redwood Lease Company has leased an estimated 25,000 cars and trucks to individuals. In "our heyday," Mr. Spieker says, Redwood had about 900 cars a year on the road. Today, there are 289 leased vehicles in operation (20 percent are new cars). No new leases will be made after December.
In addition to Mr. Spieker, there are three employees. Larry Jett, who has been Mr. Spieker's "right hand" for 25 years, is chief financial officer and handles sales and liaison with the banks. Betty Bickel pays the bills as "chancellor of the exchequer," and Elsie Cherry "does everything else."
A few months ago, Redwood Lease Company moved its office to a small, inconspicuous building at 950 Woodside Road that is hard to find.
Big Game record
Among his many interests, Mr. Spieker has an enduring passion for Cal-Stanford football games. His father, a University of California-Berkeley graduate, took him to his first Big Game when he was 8 years old, and he has attended 71 in a row, he says. He believes it's a record for consecutive attendance. The Big Game wasn't played for three years during World War II.
Until recently, his own athletic activities included golf with a 15 handicap as a member of Menlo Country Club. He gave it up a few years ago "when my handicap hit 30, because I didn't want to beat my head against the wall or scream at my wife. And don't say I was a good golfer or my friends will laugh at me."
He's also a member of the Bohemian Club.
He does, however, spend a lot of time exercising every week with two days of swimming, two days of walking and two days at a health club. Each session lasts 45 minutes to an hour.
Paul "Red" Fay, under secretary of the Navy under President John F. Kennedy, calls Mr. Spieker his closest friend since they were 6 years old in San Francisco living on adjacent streets. Mr. Fay, who still lives in San Francisco, describes Mr. Spieker as "a man of great principles and strong views -- positive and negative. He's a piece of work."
Mr. and Mrs. Spieker have four children, Warren Jr. (Ned), Tom and Todd, who live in Atherton; and Roxanne Morse, who is married to a retired Arco lawyer and lives in Palos Verdes.
All are Cal graduates, except Todd, who had a swimming scholarship and was a star at UCLA. He still is a championship swimmer and an active competitor.
Ned Spieker is chairman of Spieker Properties Inc., which acquires, develops and manages office and industrial properties. Tom Spieker owns Spieker Pacific, a real- estate investment company, and brother Todd is head of Spieker Companies, an apartment-development company.
Travel writer
The articles Mr. Spieker writes for the monthly International Travel News, a publication for the "high-frequency international traveler," are a blend of interesting, information, helpful suggestions, some wry humor, and pungent observations about accommodations, service and food.
He writes in longhand, and his staff enters the articles in a computer.
Reviewing his visit to Brazil's Iguazu Falls in one recent article, he rails against the ignored promises from prepackaged tour operators. The Spiekers were not met at the airport "as expected," the hotel's reception staff ignored their arrival "until we blistered them," their "English-speaking guide abruptly vanished," advertised rooms with "breathtaking views" didn't exist, and the room maid "had her own agenda, which often did not include making up the room or providing clean towels. The food is inedible, and the service equally bad."
So after such a busy life, will Mr. Spieker spend his retirement smelling the roses? "No," he says with a chuckle, "I don't grow roses."
