Sandler was born in 1931. He graduated high school at 15 then earned an undergraduate degree from the City College of New York in 1951. He then went on to Columbia Law School, where he graduated in 1954. In 1963, Herbert Sandler, along with his wife Marion, founded Golden West Financial. They operated as CO-CEOs of Golden West Financial Corporation from 1963 to 2006. They acquired Golden West Savings and Loan Association which later became the World Savings Bank. For decades, Golden West Financial Corporation was a very successful company that focused on residential mortgage portfolio risk-averse to provide high quality loans. In over 40 years of operation, it had the lowest loan losses in the industry. The company was described as one of the most efficient money producing companies in the world and for ten years was included in Fortune magazine as one of United States most admired companies. The Sandlers sold Golden Westto Wachovia Bank in 2006 for $24 billion. The Sandlers owned 10% percent of the company at the time of the sale, resulting in a $2.4 billion windfall. They gave $1.3 billion to the Sandler Foundation, which is philanthropic foundation that contributes to several scientific investigations. The foundation has sponsored advanced studies for the prevention of asthma since 2000. They also contribute to the development of methods to prevent ill loans and all forms of abusive financial contracts through the “Center for Responsible Lending”.
