Rancho Santa Fe dad helped raise $207,000 for diabetes

Rancho Santa Fe resident Donald Ankeny, president/CEO of Westcore Properties, was recently honored with a 2013 Father of the Year award by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) at its 10th annual Father of the Year awards. More than 370 guests attended the awards dinner held June 6 at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla Hotel. The dinner generated more than $207,000 in donations for diabetes research and programs and services for people with diabetes.

Ankeny and wife Joy, married since 1992, are raising twin daughters, Hannah and Julia, who are sophomores at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla. Ankeny also has two grown daughters, including Lisa, a doctoral student at the University of Denver, and Kristin, a finance executive living in Los Angeles. Ankeny currently serves as a trustee and chair of the Advancement Committee at The Bishop’s School. He also has served as chair of the Rancho Santa Fe Elementary School Foundation and as treasurer of the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club.

The native of Minnesota played ice hockey while attending Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He graduated cum laude with a degree in economics. He also has a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford University School of business. He worked for seven years as an investment banker in San Francisco before moving to San Diego in 2001 to join Westcore Properties, a private real estate investment firm focused on the acquisition of industrial and office properties in the western United States with particular focus on California. 

Ankeny was one of three dads who receive Father of the Year awards on June 6. Other honorees included: James Fitzpatrick, owner, CEO and publisher of San Diego Magazine; and, Todd Leigh, attorney with Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch.

The ADA said its Father of the Year awards program honors fathers who have demonstrated the ability to balance their personal lives, serve as role models of strength, commitment and love for their children and help make positive contributions to their families and communities.

“We were proud to honor men who have achieved a high-level of success in their careers while finding the time to be exemplary fathers,” said Nicole Parker Eades, manager. “These men deserved recognition not only as fathers and community leaders, but for the thousands of dollars they have helped raise to stop diabetes.”

The New York-based Father’s Day Council, which began the awards program in 1942, designated the ADA as its charity partner in 1999. In 2004, the San Diego ADA office began its Father of the Year awards program. Over the past 10 years in San Diego, the awards program has generated more than $2 million in donations. Additional donations on honor of the three award recipients can be made by contacting Eades at the ADA’s San Diego office, at (619) 234-9897, ext. 7438, or by visiting www.diabetes.org/SanDiegoFOTY.