True Wealth

What does it mean to be truly wealthy?

The idea is likely to elicit a different vision or fantasy for everyone.

For people like the late Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree, accumulating wealth meant having more opportunities to give back.

Some may dream of yachting with friends, lazy afternoons at a favorite spa, or what the clouds might look like from a private jet while on the way to a romantic destination, one that was spontaneously chosen.

Others might imagine a shiny “Lambo” in the driveway, a huge TV with speakers that rattle the walls, or the freedom of escaping the drudgery of cooking and cleaning.

“I don’t think of myself as a philanthropist. I think of myself as having the enormous privilege of sharing,” she said in an interview with Michelle Drown from 2018, posted on the Santa Barbara [California] Independent website. “Sometimes I get very emotional about it because I wish I had more to give.”

Numerous organizations in the Santa Barbara area benefited from the generosity of Ridley-Tree and her husband, who was actually the son of a lord.

Ridley-Tree, who died in 2022 at the age of 98, funded 33 nursing scholarships at Westmont College, 40 scholarships for young people with disabilities to attend the University of California Santa Barbara’s Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, and 30 scholarships for Santa Barbara Community College’s Single Parents Arriving Ready for College program.

A former violinist and torch singer, Ridley-Tree established a vocal scholarship for students in the Westmont College Choir, and the Ridley-Tree Endowed Scholarship for students of the arts, music, philosophy and history. Her art collection included 20 works by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, the donation of which led to the founding of the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art.

With a donation of nearly $11 million, Ridley-Tree helped the Sansum Clinic of Santa Barbara establish the Ridley-Tree Cancer Center. She also gave significant funds to the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, the United Way, Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinic, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

Ridley-Tree was a boss at a time when female executives were far from commonplace. Though she inherited her role as CEO of Pacific Air Industries with the passing of her husband in 2005, she earned her seat in the boardroom with more than 13 years of effective leadership.

Pacific Air Industries, an aftermarket supplier of airplane parts, was founded in 1959 by Paul Ridley-Tree in the Topanga Canyon area of Los Angeles. His thinking was the airplane industry would always need nuts and bolts; however, major parts would only be a one-time purchase.

The company has serviced Air Force One and maintains successful operations, with an inventory of over 400,000 parts.

Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree led the company until she was at least 93 and commuted to the L.A.-based office from Santa Barbara three times a week. She learned from listening to her husband on the phone and visiting the office periodically.

But it was difficult for her to get respect sometimes, and in the same interview she said she would occasionally have to remind her employees, “I’m the one who signs your check, you know.”

At one point, Ridley-Tree asked her accountant if there was a way for her to make more money so she could give more away. “My taxes are taking too much this year,” she said, “Isn’t there a way I can find more money to give to this project that I want to give to?”

Ridley-Tree also volunteered her effort and time. Along with providing monetary donations, once a week she worked in the kitchen of a homeless shelter called Casa Esperanza. She also prepared meals in the Ridley-Tree Animal Center at the Santa Barbara Zoo.

Ridley-Tree was honored with the Spirit of Entrepreneurship Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. It is presented each year to a successful female entrepreneur who has made an indelible impact on the Santa Barbara community.

“She was one of the most remarkable human beings to walk the face of the earth, and I loved being with her. … She could be serious, and she could be incredibly joyful and funny, all in the same conversation.”

— ­Westmont College President Gayle D. Beebe

In an article from the Montecito Journal by James Buckley posted in 2022, Ridley-Tree said, “There’s a big hole in the world and there are needs to be filled — whether it’s in education or medicine or hunger — and you just have to share. It doesn’t mean you have to give it all away and walk barefoot, but it does mean that you have to share. There’s that need, and you can’t look at it and walk by.”

One of Ridley-Tree’s former homes in Montecito, California, was recently listed for $19.95 million. The estate was built in 1921 and has more than 8,000 square feet.

It was renovated by a celebrity designer who is also a noted philanthropist. One can suppose that Lady Leslie would approve.