Edgar Henry Haber, founder of Quail Lodge and noted philanthropist, was 93.

Chief Quail is teeing it up in greener pastures.

World War II veteran, golf champion, philanthropist, environmental developer and founder of Quail Lodge Resort and Golf Club, Edgar Henry Haber died at his Carmel Valley home this past Monday of natural causes. He was 93.

Fondly called Ed, Edgar, or Chief Quail, Haber was a local icon who changed the face of Carmel Valley and the greater Monterey Peninsula.

“He was one of the largest spirits to ever live on the Monterey Peninsula, and one of the most generous,” says Gary Koeppel, who knew Haber for 30 years and is at work on a biography of his friend. “He touched thousands of people personally, tens of thousands with Quail Lodge and tens of thousands more with his multitude of charities. He’s had an absolutely unfathomable impact on a large number of people.”

Haber had dreamed of developing his own golf course since capturing the San Francisco Amateur Golf Championship at the young age of 20. After enlisting in the military on the day after Pearl Harbor at the age of 29, Haber served four years in the South Pacific, achieving the rank of captain.

He arrived to the Monterey Peninsula “practically broke” but with an eye open for a spot to build his golf course. According to Koeppel, Haber loved to tell about the early years when he had to sneak on to the Pebble Beach Golf Links course because he could not afford the green fees.

After founding Carmel Valley’s first newspaper, liquor store and movie theater, Haber began selling insurance and putting together investment groups to buy and sell real estate.  He and three partners bought the Carmel Valley Dairy and created the Carmel Valley Golf and Country Club, which is now regarded as one of the finest courses in California.

According to his obituary, Ed and his wife, Terry, worked as a team to develop the property.  Ed planned and oversaw projects and Terry created the interiors and the landscaping.  From those efforts grew Quail Lodge, which for 20 years received the prestigious Mobil Five Star Award for quality and excellence.

In 1992, the company opened Quail Meadows, a 614-acre residential development, dedicating half of the property to permanent open space as a haven for wildlife.

As a civic leader, Ed Haber founded the Carmel Valley and Mid-Valley Fire Departments, the Sheriff’s Advisory Council and the Sheriff’s Emergency Assistance Team.  He established the first paramedic ambulance service throughout the county.  As the only local private citizen authorized to use a red light and siren on a private vehicle, he responded to countless emergencies.

Yet perhaps his greatest impact on the Peninsula was as a generous and often anonymous philanthropist. Haber will be remembered for donating millions of dollars over the years to many charities, including the Community Foundation for Monterey County, the Boys and Girls Club of Monterey County, Hospice of the Central Coast, Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, Natividad Medical Center, Planned Parenthood and the SPCA.

“He was a delightful individual.

<>Very lighthearted, witty and with a kind sense of humor. He was generous, not only with his money, but with his time and with his kindness,” Koeppel says. “His legacy will probably be two-fold. It will be Quail Lodge Resort and the spirit of giving—a tangible and </>an intangible.”