Schott was born to a Roman Catholic family in Santa Clara, California in 1939. His father was a part-time professor at the Santa Clara University and then worked as an engineer in the public works department for the city of Santa Clara. As a youth, Schott worked in the local fruit orchards and sold prunes from the trees on his father's property. At the age of 16, he began working on road survey crews. He attended the Bellarmine College Preparatory School and then, after qualifying on a partial baseball scholarship, graduated in 1960 from Santa Clara University with a degree in business and management. Both schools now bear buildings in his name. After school, he joined the Army, and then when he completed his service, he took an accounting job with Ford Motor Company in Milpitas, California. After one year, he took a job with a home builder.
Career
In 1977, he and several partners formed Citation Builders, a real-estate and residence-development company; in 1988 he bought out his partners' shares, reformed the company as a family-run business, Citation Homes Central, and moved it to Santa Clara, California. Despite employing fewer than 25 people, Citation is now one of the largest homebuilders in the state of California, and has been responsible for the construction of over 50,000 individual residences.
Ownership of the Oakland Athletics
In 1995, he and partner Ken Hofmann purchased the Oakland Athletics from the Walter A. Haas, Jr. estate. Under their patronage, general manager Billy Beane's novel management and player-procurement strategies allowed the A's, though a "small-market" club, to make the post-season playoffs despite being restricted by financially limited budgets. Beane's approach to obtaining success within Schott's constraints was documented in Michael Lewis's book . Schott and Hofmann sold the A's to a group of Los Angeles real estate developers headed by Lewis Wolff, in 2005.
Stephen Schott and his wife Patricia have three children: Lisa Schott, Stephen E. Schott, Jr. and Kristen Schott. His son Stephen Schott Jr. is slated to take over the Citation Homes business. Reclusive by nature, Schott avoids the public eye, and a true estimate of his total net worth has not been released. Schott is of no relation to the late controversial Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott.
