Henry Thomas Segerstrom (born April 5, 1923) is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. Managing Partner of C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, he was the founding chairman of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, now known as the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.[1] [2][3][4]
Henry Segerstrom was born into a farming family that specialized in harvesting lima beans. The Segerstrom family was one of the largest producers of lima beans in the US. He attended Stanford University and served in the Army during World War II. He graduated from Stanford Business School in 1948. [5]
In March 1967, Henry Segerstrom, along with his cousin Hal T. Segerstrom, Jr., opened a shopping center called South Coast Plaza in one of the family's lima bean fields in rapidly growing Orange County. Originally anchored by a May Company that had opened in late 1966 and Sears, the initial phase of the center was designed by Victor Gruen. It was built the same year as The Irvine Company's neighboring Fashion Island in Newport Beach.
Henry Segerstrom has received an honorary doctorate from Whittier Law School. [6]