Levi Strauss had no children, but his company’s success provided his heirs with a fortune that they are funneling into a vast trove of local charitable acts. Walter Haas Sr. married the daughter of a Strauss nephew (a Stern), ran Levi Strauss & Co. for nearly 30 years, and set an example of community giving that his children have exploded into vast proportions. The five largest Haas foundations now hold well over a billion dollars in total assets. The largest, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, has given away $268 million. Bay Area residents may not realize the extent of the family philanthropy that gave the city Stern Grove, turned a toxic military base into the beautiful Crissy Field waterfront, built SF’s Museum of Modern Art, kept the Athletics in Oakland, brings college opportunities to low-income students, funds gay and lesbian causes, and is about to transform the Presidio campgrounds with $15 million. Some of their larger gifts carry the Haas name, such as the significant UC Berkeley funding, but the Haas family likes their privacy. They give to progressive organizations, they give to disadvantaged children and women, they give to improve the region immediately around them.