[5][6] His mother, Eleanor Shapiro Siegl (1917–1996), was an educator and founder of The Little School,[7] now located on a campus in Kirkland, Washington.
In March 1971, Siegl, Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker established Starbucks Coffee Company in Seattle, Washington.
[9] Siegl often mentions in his public talks that Starbucks wouldn't have been what it is today without the early mentorship they received from Alfred Peet, who at the time was running an already successful coffee stores chain.
[10] Following a decade as vice president and a director, Siegl left Starbucks, which had expanded to dominate the gourmet coffee trade in Seattle, with six Seattle-area stores and a wholesale business.
Siegl is the founder of several other small businesses, including Quartermaine Coffee Roasters,[11] in Rockville, Maryland, near Washington, DC.