Ross Farnsworth (2013)

By Gary Nelson The Arizona Republic | azcentral.com Tue Mar 5, 2013 9:36 AM
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Ross Farnsworth, a pioneer among the developers and philanthropists who spearheaded the Valley’s postwar economic boom, has died. He was 81.

“Ross was a giant,” Mesa Mayor Scott Smith said. “It’s not only a loss for the community, it’s a personal loss.”

Farnsworth, who was deeply embedded in Mesa’s religious, business, political and social life, had been in declining health for some time. Most of his 12 children were present when he died on Saturday afternoon.

Farnsworth made a fortune as a land developer and in other business ventures and gave large chunks of it to charities too numerous to count.

He was among the founders, to cite one example, of the west Mesa La Mesita Family Shelter, which is now building a multimillion-dollar apartment complex for working families.

He was a key backer of the Mesa Arts Center, which named one of its four theaters after his wife, Anita.

Although his personal philosophy was conservative, Farnsworth used his position as a high-profile Mormon to lobby for a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday when the state was torn by that issue a generation ago.

He also opposed then-Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, during a bitter recall campaign that split the Mormon community and cost Pearce his seat in 2011.

Farnsworth was born in Mesa and began his company, Farnsworth Development, with his father, Joseph, in the late 1950s.

“My father and I started the company when I was 27 years old,” Farnsworth said in a 1988 Phoenix Gazette interview. “He had bought close to 200 acres. I was teaching government in high school at the time. Youngtown had just started up, and we thought it would be a good thing to put something like that out here because this is the prettier end of the Valley.”

That led to the launch of Dreamland Villa, which in 15 years ballooned to 3,000 homes at University Drive and Recker Road.

Sunland Villa, Sunland Village and Sunland Springs Village, all in Mesa, eventually joined his inventory.

Farnsworth was actually about a year ahead of Del Webb, who gets most of the national credit for launching the postwar surge in retirement communities.

Dreamland Villa opened in 1959, but by late that year, Webb was making headlines with his Sun City development, which was to open on Jan. 1, 1960.

“When we first heard Del Webb’s plans, we thought we were ruined,” Farnsworth told The Republic in 1995. “Del Webb started doing all of this national advertising that was bringing lots of people in to look at the development.”

Farnsworth countered with a billboard on Grand Avenue, between Phoenix and Sun City, drawing customers to his own development in Mesa.

Farnsworth also was one of the original investors in the coalition assembled by Jerry Colangelo to buy the Phoenix Suns in 1987.

His long and deep civic involvement in Mesa led to his being named in 1978 one of Mesa’s Citizens of the Year — an honor that was duplicated last year by his daughter Beth Coons, vice chair of Mesa’s Planning and Zoning Commission.

He served on the Mesa council from 1984 to 1988, taking an openly pro-development stance as the city nearly doubled its population during the 1980s.

“I favor as little restriction as necessary,” he said in 1987, he voted in favor of the blue argon lighting that helped turn a 16-story office tower at Southern Avenue and Alma School Road into a Valley landmark.

His council votes also reflected a philosophy that philanthropy is best left to the private sector and that government should be limited in scope.

When social-service agencies requested millions of dollars in public money, Farnsworth said, “We’ve got to be sure we don’t kill the incentive of the private sector. If the city does it all, there’d be no reason for the private sector to give.”

Farnsworth forsook his chance at a second council term in 1988, citing businesses and family priorities.

Mayor Smith said Farnsworth was part of a generation that built the modern Valley and is too rapidly leaving the stage.

“These people did so much,” Smith said. “The question I always raise is how are we doing? We’ve got some catching up to do.”

Coons said love was the hallmark of her father’s life.

“Dad just loved to help out where he could,” she said. “He wanted to make a better community. But more importantly, he was concerned with each person.”

His support of the MLK holiday, which was not universal among LDS adherents at the time, was a reflection of that impulse, Coons said.

Dan Wollam, president of Mesa United Way, said he had known Farnsworth only since arriving in Mesa six years ago.

“I don’t think the appreciation for what Ross represented is dependent on how many years you’ve known him,” Wollam said.

“To meet him was to learn within five minutes how much the man cared for this community and the people who lived here.”

At one time or other, he said, Farnsworth served on the board of “nearly every organization that had anything to do with making Mesa a better community. He was certainly one of the strongest and longest supporters of Mesa United Way.”

And, while Wollam said Farnsworth will be deeply missed, “he is not leaving a void here. He has trained his family, his friends and neighbors and, I think, in a very real way, the entire community to continue the vision and the love that he had expressed over many years for Mesa.”

Farnsworth is survived by his wife, 12 children, 63 grandchildren and 65 great-grandchildren.

Services will be 11 a.m. Saturday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Red Mountain Institute, 7126 E. McKellips Road, Mesa.

Visitation is 6-8 p.m. Friday at the Mesa North Stake Center, 933 E. Brown Road.

By John D'Anna Mesa Republic columnist Fri Mar 8, 2013 12:34 PM
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If you live in Mesa and like where you live, you owe it in part to Ross Farnsworth, a man who humbly spread his wealth far and wide across our city and who used his quiet voice to campaign for good, even when it wasn’t popular.

Farnsworth, who is to be buried today, stood up for the homeless when many in our community just hoped they’d go away.

He stood up to many from his own political party and church to argue for an Arizona holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

And most recently, he stood up to Russell Pearce in the recall.

It says a lot about the man that his name is associated both with a homeless shelter that he was instrumental in establishing (where people wear secondhand clothes) and a high-class performing arts theater (where people wear evening gowns and tuxedos).

Ross served on the Mesa City Council when I was a young reporter covering City Hall, and I was always impressed by his humility and good humor.

Once, one of the newsroom honchos asked why I always paraphrased Ross in my stories and rarely quoted him as I did other council members.

I explained that Ross told me he was self-conscious about his public-speaking abilities and asked me to not make him look foolish in print. I’d told him I wouldn’t alter a direct quote, but I’d certainly do my best to capture the essence of what he said in paraphrases.

Well, the honcho couldn’t leave well enough alone and wrote a column mocking Ross. It was the cheapest of cheap shots.

At the next council meeting, I told Ross how embarrassed and sorry I was. He replied that he’d long ago learned to turn the other cheek and he said he felt bad that I felt bad.

Sometime later, I learned that his company had pulled all of its ads from the paper, which at the time was a considerable financial hit.

The next time I saw Ross, I asked if he’d really meant what he said about turning the other cheek.

“It’s good to turn the other cheek,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t get a few good licks in first.”

The ads eventually reappeared, but not until Ross had demonstrated the best strategy for arguing with people who buy ink by the barrel.