About Dwight Schar | Philanthropist

Billionaire philanthropist Dwight Schar is the founder of the Fortune 500 company NVR, Inc. and served as the company’s executive chairman of the board until he retired in 2022. NVR is one of the biggest homebuilders in the United States, having constructed more than 110,000 homes in Greater Washington to date, which represents 25% of the local market share.

Career

Mr. Schar ran Ryan Home’s Mid-Atlantic homebuilding operations until 1977, when he decided he was ready to venture into business on his own. He was required to leave the homebuilding industry for two years, due to non-compete obligations with Ryan Homes. He launched Northern Virginia Land and Homes Company in 1980, an enterprise which would one day become NVR, Inc.

Under the leadership of Mr. Schar, Northern Virginia Land and Homes Company experienced significant success in its first decade, with a mortgage service entity added to its offerings in 1984 and a debut on the public trading floor occurring in 1986. With the resultant injection of capital, the company purchased Ryan Homes in 1987 in a deal valued at $312 million. In the early 1990s the company (now renamed NVR) became a victim of the financial downturn which halted growth and forced it to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. NVR underwent a reorganization, subsequently emerging from bankruptcy protection in 1993. Mr. Schar remained NVR’s chief executive officer until 2005, although he stayed on as executive chairman of the NVR board until retiring from this role at the age of 80 in 2022. Eugene J. Bredow is the current CEO of NVR, with the business achieving $10.33 billion in revenue in 2022.

Mr. Schar’s philanthropic activities are extensive and have focused on three key areas: health, children, and education. As well as providing support to his own alma maters, he has supported the alma maters of his children, one of whom is Elon University graduate and University of Central Florida MBA graduate Spencer Schar. Mr. Schar’s support of George Mason University has included endowing a chair, supporting the Center for Regional Analysis, and leading efforts to assist the Fuller Institute for Research on the Washington Region’s Future Economy.

A donation of $200,000 was made to Norwayne High School by Mr. Schar to help fund the building of a new football stadium, scoreboard, and track; the latter was named the Dwight Schar Track in his honor. Ashland University received a donation of $5 million from Mr. Schar in 2006 to help fund construction of a new education building, with a further $7 million gifted in 2009 for new on-campus football, track and field, and soccer facilities. Mr. Schar’s gift of $12 million in 2014 was used by Elon University to help fund construction of its new multi-purpose arena, the Schar Center, and its new School of Communications building.