At the age of 41, Don Fisher, along with his wife Doris, left the real estate business and opened up a small clothing shop in San Francisco called “The Gap” which referred to the generation gap which was widening in the United States at the time. The store carried Levi’s in a much more organized manner than local department stores Don visited at the time, realizing that he could do better. And he most definitely did as he brought the company to international acclaim and even expanding with other brands such as GapKids, BabyGap and Banana Republic.
He was more than a success store. Him and his wife were philanthropists and art collectors, as they founded the KIPP Foundation, a network of free, open-enrollment college-prep schools. Over the years, the Fishers provided $100 million to the foundation and to Teach for America.
