Mr. Harry S. Rinker is the sole proprietor of Rinker Company, a real estate investment and development company with development and investment properties primarily in California and Idaho. One of the pioneer developers of Orange County, California, Mr. Rinker is and has been a major part of the phenomenal expansion of this region of California for five decades. His company continues quality investment and development in California and has become a significant figure in development in Idaho.
In 1953, Mr. Rinker moved from Tacoma, Washington and began building residential tracts in the Garden Grove, California area. From 1953 until 1960, Mr. Rinker’s company built thousands of homes and several shopping centers in what are now Garden Grove, Anaheim, Stanton and Buena Park.
In 1960, Mr. Rinker ceased housing development, founded Rinker Development Company and began developing shopping centers throughout the western states. In 1973, the Rinker Development Company merged with a national company on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1978, he left the company he had merged with and founded his present company, continuing to develop shopping centers, industrial parks and offices.
Mrs. Rinker graduated with honors from the University of Southern California with a degree in finance. She has been active in many charities in Orange County, and currently serves on the Board of USC’s Doheny Eye Institute. She has also supported Trojan League, Angels of the Arts, Luminnaires, Orangewood Home for Abused Children, Big Sisters, Chapman University and the University of Southern California.
Mr. Rinker is a member of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. He has been involved with the Big Brothers of America Board of Directors, the Eisenhower Medical Center Board of Governors, the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the Orange County Sherriff’s Advisory Council, Orangewood Home for Dependent Children and South Coast Reparatory theatre, among many other charitable and civic activities. Most recently, he has become involved with the Hoag Hospital Foundation and the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at the University of California, Irvine.
Mr. and Mrs. Rinker are longtime supporters of Chapman University. Mr. Rinker has been a member of the Chapman University Board of Trustees since 1976, and the couple has supported countless university priorities through the years including presidential scholarships, American Celebration, the Economic Forecast, Argyros Global Citizens Plaza and the Dale E. Fowler School of Law’s Harry and Diane Rinker Law Library, among many others. Their transformational gift to establish the Harry S. and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus in 2014 set the stage for a new era of health science education at Chapman, paving the way for an exciting future.