George Skestos: A Trustee Who Does His Homework

By Sylvia Whitman | Photo by Nancy Guth

Shortly after his appointment to the Ohio State University board of trustees, lawyer-turned-residential-real-estate-developer George Skestos asked the provost to set up a monthly breakfast meeting with 8-10 faculty members. At first, wary professors wondered if he was a spy, Skestos says. Over coffee and bagels, they discovered he was someone far more interesting: a lifelong learner. “To be a trustee you’ve got to understand what’s going on,” says Skestos. “Otherwise you’re just sitting there at those meetings nodding your head.”

Since 2012, Skestos has brought to the board of New College of Florida (NCF) that same open mind and insatiable curiosity. Like most of his Longboat Key neighbors, Skestos didn’t know much about the highly selective public liberal arts institution across the bay. So, he did his research—by taking many New College classes.

Skestos didn’t sit in the back row for an afternoon. He signed on for the whole semester, doing assigned readings and joining discussions. “The kids are really nice,” he says. “Not way out, really freaky. I like them all. And they treat me like one of them.”

As NCF president Donal O’Shea notes, New College students tend to lean left and Skestos more to the right. “George is never shy about disagreeing,” says O’Shea, “but never in a way that makes anyone feel diminished. Here’s this very gentle man, old enough to be a great-grandfather, talking to some student with purple hair and two or three nose rings and God knows what else, and he gets along with them really well. It’s the most charming thing I’ve ever seen.”

He’s also become such good friends with a handful of professors that they show up at his birthday parties. “There’s not the slightest thing stuffy about him,” says O’Shea. “We all love him.”

Skestos embarked on his education by earning three degrees from the University of Michigan—BA, JD, and MBA (the last two simultaneously). One semester he racked up 29 credit hours. After he left the library on a Saturday night he allowed himself a treat: the midnight movie.

“I had always dreamed of going out and making my stake and coming back to Ann Arbor and teaching law,” he says. “Never happened.” He served in the Navy JAG Corps, and then a buddy, an engineer, invited Skestos to join a construction venture, which eventually led to his founding Homewood Corporation in 1963. He and his then wife started a family, which has grown to four children and nine grandchildren.

Yet whenever and wherever he could, he took classes—history (his undergrad major), astronomy, political science, art history, religion, physics. At Ohio State, for instance, Skestos and his wife of 30 years, Tina, who has a graduate degree in sports administration, enrolled in more than 50 hours of coursework.

“For credit,” says Tina. “Because then he feels that he really has to get the grade in it. He gets the A, I get the A-. Always. It’s the smart thing to do.”

Skestos’s seat at the seminar table, combined with his business experience and past board work for Michigan and Ohio State, informs his insights as a New College trustee. “He sees very well the strengths of an institution and its weaknesses,” says O’Shea.

Skestos is bullish about New College’s small classes and dedicated professors. “You’re not going to coast here. It’s too small. The faculty will see you. The faculty will help you, but you’ve got to show that you care about what you’re studying. I’ve never seen such caring on the part of the faculty. They want all of the students, all of them, to do well.”

O’Shea calls Skestos “a wise and trusted advisor” as New College aims to grow the student body from 800 to 1200 and add faculty accordingly. Skestos says he’s involved in property acquisition and has brought in builders with innovative lease-construction deals for new dormitories, seeded with his million-dollar donation.

O’Shea appreciates both Skestos’s generosity (“his motto is give until it hurts”) and shrewdness (“another motto of his is never overpay for anything”). With another million-dollar gift, Skestos underwrote the three-year launch of a major gifts program at New College Foundation. He also challenged fellow board members by offering a 5-to-1 match on their contributions. He’s supported the Daughters for Life scholarship that enables young women from the Middle East to attend New College, and scholarships in general for both Florida and out-of state students. “You need a mix,” says Skestos. “Scholarships are important, wherever you go. Helps bring the better-quality student.”

The Skestos largesse extends to other educational ventures as well, from the 50-year-old Salem Lutheran Foundation and its successor, IHS Foundation, to George and Tina’s latest project, Gigi’s Shelter for Dogs,named for their tawny Akita, who loves to watch dolphins from their yard. In partnership with Ohio State University’s vet school, Gigi’s gives rescue assistance to overpopulated and underfunded “source shelters” in rural Ohio counties. Gigi’s brings their needy homeless dogs to its 15,000 square foot full service hospital. Once at Gigi’s, the rescue dogs are healed and prepped for adoption elsewhere in urban homes.  The program also provides rural shelters with supplies, vaccines and remodeling. In its first five months, Tina Skestos reports, Gigi’s Shelter has healed 400 dogs, with an annual aim of 1,500 dogs.

Skestos philanthropy has two hallmarks: strategic vision and a deep personal connection. “One of George’s big dreams here is to have more people within the community understand the value of a New College in their midst,” says Tina. On occasion, Skestos brings a friend to class—and wonders if something like Ohio State’s Program 60, which invites seniors to take courses alongside undergraduates, might work at New College. “I think the students will like it too,” he says. “Not that you want to have 10 adults with 10 students, but you might like to have three or four.”

Nonagenarian Skestos can’t understand why some of his peers gripe about boredom. “I think a person should always be involved in education their whole life,” he says. “You should never stop learning. What was modern 10 years ago is out the window now. It’s fun to learn about the world, different people, their thinking.” George Skestos is still involved and still learning and still thinking!

For More Information about New College and New College Foundation, call 941.487.4686 or visit ncf.edu.