Stephen Adams (November 7, 1937 – March 14, 2024) was an American businessman, private equity investor, and philanthropist.
His holdings have included Good Sam Enterprises, a national publisher, retail stores, and member-based direct marketing organization directed toward owners of recreational vehicles and Adams Outdoor Advertising, an operator of outdoor advertising structures in the Midwest, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.
His previous holdings have included operators of television and radio stations, print publishers, cola bottlers and community banks.
[2] Adams received a bachelor's degree in 1959 from Yale University, where he was a member of Skull and Bones.
Since the 1970s, Adams has served as chairman of privately owned banking, bottling, publishing, outdoor advertising, television and radio companies in which he held a controlling ownership interest.
[4][5] In 1984, Adams failed in a bid to take control of publicly traded Union Planters.
In 1995, AGI acquired the 13-year-old San Francisco Thrift and Loan and moved the company's headquarters to Ventura, California.
[19] The Adams Family Foundation, founded by Adams and his wife, Denise, has made grants to a variety of educational institutions including Yale University, Stanford University,[20] Westmont College, the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, and The Blake School.
[21][22] After being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, Adams donated the Yale Neuroscience Center.
[23] Adams was selected to receive the Arbuckle Award from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business in 2006.
Adams lived in Roxbury, Connecticut; Healdsburg, California; Big Timber, Montana; and Saint Emilion (Bordeaux), France.