Darwin Deason, the billionaire founder of Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services, died on Dec. 2. He was 85 years old.
“The blessing of Darwin was he could not sneak up on you,” said his son Doug Deason, president of their family office Deason Capital Services. “He planted his heels when he walked. You’d hear him coming, because he walked with purpose.”
That walk was emblematic of the hard-nosed “hustle” that drove Deason from the time he was born on the dirt floor of an Arkansas farm until he died as a noted Dallas businessman, philanthropist and political donor.
Darwin Deason, the billionaire founder of Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services, is pictured with his son Doug Deason (left) and daughter Sterling Deason O Donnell (center). Darwin Deason died on Dec. 2 at 85 years old.
Courtesy of Doug Deason
“He crammed 100 years of life into 85,” Doug said. “He was road-hard. He slept four or five hours a night, maybe, and if he went to bed late, he still got up super early.”
“His mantra was ‘hustle.’”
Deason was born in 1940 in Rogers, Ark., the homestead of the Deasons since 1862, Doug said. But while generations of his family had been devout Christian farmers, Deason had an innate drive for entrepreneurship and success.
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After graduating from Rogers High School, Deason took a job with Gulf Oil in Tulsa, Okla. Dallas called out to him, though, appealing to his entrepreneurial spirit, and he looked for opportunities there.
“If you can’t do it in Dallas, you can’t do it anywhere, and he recognized that early on,” Doug said. “He was in Tulsa, and he was looking for opportunities in Dallas, making phone calls, checking the paper.”
Deason got wind of a small data processing company and came to Dallas for an interview, eventually getting hired as the third employee of what would become MTech. He was appointed CEO at 29 and grew the company into a successful subsidiary of MCorp, once the largest bank holding company in Texas. After taking MTech public, Deason and other executives tried to buy out the company but were denied, and it was instead bought up by Ross Perot’s Electronic Data Systems.
Deason responded the same year by founding Affiliated Computer Services, which provided business service outsourcing and IT solutions, in 1988. By 1990, Dallas-based ACS had 1,300 employees and more than $120 million in revenue. The company pioneered an aggressive acquisitions strategy, buying and selling more than 50 companies in its lifetime, and was one of the first companies to outsource office work to foreign countries, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Printing giant Xerox acquired ACS in 2010 for $6.4 billion after a settled shareholder suit protested the premium price of Deason’s voting shares. By the time it was sold, ACS was a Fortune 500 company with 74,000 employees worldwide and $6 billion in annual revenue, serving customers like E-ZPass, UPS and government agencies across the country. After the sale of ACS, Deason became the largest individual shareholder of Xerox, despite legal battles over the allocation of his shares.
“He really and truly loved Dallas,” Doug said of his father. “He credited Dallas with his success, and he doesn’t think he could have done it anywhere else.”
Darwin Deason, the billionaire founder of Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services, was known for his “hustle” mantra. He died on Dec. 2 at 85 years old.
Courtesy of Doug Deason
Deason was well known for passing out “hustle cards” that went in one’s billfold to remind them of “The Most Important Word in the English Language,” Doug said, and his business acumen was complemented by the high expectations he held for those around him.
“He was harsh. He was a critic. He was a perfectionist, and so he expected the most out of people,” Doug said.
Doug recounted the tough love he received from his father after a night of partying when he wanted to sleep in, but the ethos also applied to everyone else, including colleagues. A former CEO of ACS reached out to Doug after Deason’s funeral remembering fondly how demanding Deason could be as a boss.
“He was just honored and proud that dad thought he was capable of more, and so that made him want to strive to do more,” Doug said.
With his vast fortune, Deason liked to spend lavishly and give generously. His opulent 12,981-square-foot beach palace in La Jolla, Calif., was nicknamed “The Sand Castle” and hit the market for $108 million earlier this year. He was also a connoisseur of boats, starting with a 14-foot AristoCraft in his ‘20s and going through several of increasing size until purchasing the 203-foot mega-yacht Apogee in 2004, according to Forbes. The yacht was outfitted with a Wurlitzer jukebox, Swarovski wine glasses, and an oceanview gym. On the water was “the only place I’ve truly been able to relax,” Deason told the magazine.
He also founded The Deason Foundation, which disburses around $3 million in charity each year, according to ProPublica. Inspired by Deason’s own trajectory, it focuses on efforts that “empower the poor to lift themselves out of poverty,” said Doug, who now runs the foundation.
In addition to other charitable causes, The Deason Foundation, per tax filings, donated $1 million to MD Anderson Cancer Center from 2018-22, has collaborated with the S.M. Wright Foundation and Academy to give free bikes to kids, donated $1 million to Dallas’ Society of Women Engineers and contributed to Arlington’s National Medal of Honor Museum.
Through The Deason Foundation, Deason also became a significant donor to Southern Methodist University. Though not an alumnus of SMU, Deason “wanted to do something that he felt was important for Dallas and for the country,” said SMU President Emeritus Gerald Turner, who worked with Deason on many of his donations to the school.
“Innovation, he felt, was an American strength, and so he wanted to encourage that in the next generation of students,” Turner said.
A $7.75 million gift in 2014 established the Darwin Deason Institute for Cyber Security and Innovation Gym, and twin $3.5 million donations from The Deason Foundation and The Koch Foundation established the Deason Family Criminal Justice Reform Center at Dedman School of Law in 2016. The Deason Foundation has also made additional gifts for continued funding.
Doug worked closely with his father on these initiatives, and they had “a really good time,” he said, even as Deason advanced in age and couldn’t do as much. “With his money and my effort, we’ve done a lot of good,” Doug reflected.
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“Darwin Deason’s contributions to SMU created countless groundbreaking opportunities and inspired new passions for our students, researchers and community members,” said current SMU president Jay Hartzell in a statement. “His vision for the future put SMU at the forefront of cybersecurity and criminal justice reform, and his enduring generosity has forever altered the landscape of innovative discovery and creative thinking. We remain forever grateful for his generosity that continues to spark ideas and impact across our campus.”
Trenton Johnson (CQ), a former Mr. Black Trans International, transgender activist and public speaker, joins the panel at the sodomy laws and same-sex marriage event hosted by The Dallas Morning News and the Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in Dallas, Texas, Tuesday, June 26, 2018.
Elias Galarza, 17, of Dallas drills a hole for a hinge under the guidance of instructor Mitchell Dye, a Lyle Engineering Student at SMU, during an engineering summer camp at the Deason Innovation Gym in Caruth Hall at SMU on June 29, 2017.
Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer
In later years, Deason, a staunch conservative, became involved in politics, supporting former Texas governor Rick Perry’s presidential primary campaign in 2012 and 2016. Deason later endorsed Ted Cruz in 2016 before donating $1 million to the America First Action super PAC during Donald Trump’s first presidency. Deason contributed $405,000 to Trump’s unsuccessful 2020 campaign, as well, according to Forbes.
Through The Deason Foundation, Deason also supported conservative causes such as Turning Point USA, Charles Koch’s Stand Together Foundation and the National Rifle Association, according to tax filings.
Doug, also a conservative activist, described his father as a “common sense person” and very engaged and active, when explaining his political involvement.
“It’s just common sense that, if you expect a good government, then you have to make sure the right people are elected,” Doug said. “You get what you pay for.”
Deason was married six times and maintained close friendships with the two mothers of his children, sons Doug and David Deason (deceased) and daughter Sterling Deason O’Donnell. In addition to Doug and Sterling, Deason is survived by numerous grandchildren, a brother and sister, nieces and nephews and many friends and colleagues, who will in part remember him for the “hustle” mantra he preached, according to Doug.
“One of his ex-executives sent me a picture, and he had his hustle card pulled halfway out of his billfold. He’s carried that same hustle card for 27 years,” Doug said. “To me, I think that’s his biggest legacy.”
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