Donald Fisher

Donald George Fisher (1928 to 2009) was an American businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the Gap Inc. clothing stores with his wife Doris F. Fisher. Born in San Francisco, he graduated in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley in 1951, served as a U.S. Naval Reserve officer and worked in his family's cabinet-making firm before renovating hotels in the 1960s. Noticing that department stores stocked only a few jeans sizes, he and his wife opened a store carrying every size and named it The Gap after the generation gap, selling Levi's jeans along with records and tapes to reach younger customers. The Gap label launched in 1972 and the company filed for an initial public offering in 1973. The business later bought Banana Republic and founded Old Navy. Fisher served as chief executive until 1995 and as chairman of the board until 2004, and he was a founding board member of the Presidio Trust.