The Foundation Dean Witter was born in Wausau, Wisconsin in 1887. He moved to California with his family in 1891, and after purchasing country land tracts in various areas of the state, the family moved to San Carlos on the Peninsula and eventually settled in Berkeley.

The San Francisco office of Dean Witter, located at 45 Montgomery Street,
was company headquarters; the business expanded greatly over the
years, partly through mergers. At the time of Witter's death in 1969
there were nearly 80 branches of Dean Witter & Co. in the U.S. and Canada and the company was the largest investment house on the West Coast.

Dean Witter interrupted his career to volunteer for duty in both World War I and World War II, during which he attained the rank of colonel.

During Dean Witter's lifetime, he found recreation in hunting and fishing and in enjoyment of the outdoors. In business and as a fisherman, Colonel Witter enjoyed pursuing the difficult task. He preferred the elusive trout to the easy fishing of a well-stocked pond. In this spirit, The Dean Witter Foundation seeks to practice imaginative grantmaking in the fields of finance and conservation.

It is the policy of The Dean Witter Foundation to support graduate schools of business and organizations to promote research and higher education in finance. The Foundation makes additional grants, often on a matching basis, to support specific wildlife research and conservation projects in Northern California and seminal opportunities to improve and extend environmental education and to stimulate learning.

The Foundation will consider requests for multi-year funding for two or three years into the future to facilitate effective program planning by the institutions supported.

We encourage prospective applicants to telephone or write the Consultant to determine whether their proposed program falls within the Foundation's areas of interest and grantmaking priorities