Ralph Staver; Financier, Train Hobbyist
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Retired financier and investor Ralph Staver, who built a home in Del Mar that featured his own four-engine, 17-car steam railroad, a hobby he shared with his community over the years, died Saturday of a heart attack. He was 81.
Staver, a 1937 Stanford Business School graduate, retired to Del Mar from Los Angeles, where he had enjoyed a successful career. In that San Diego County city, he became a councilman and was active with the San Diego Opera and Scripps Memorial Hospital Foundation.
His interest in railroads started in his youth. His father, Charles, was an executive of the Union Pacific railroad.
Staver’s survivors include his wife, Marian Kirkpatrick Staver; eight children; 16 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Donations in his name are asked for the San Diego Opera.
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