Fred J. Hansen immigrated to the United States from Denmark at the age of ten, settling in the San Diego area in the early twentieth century.  He was a successful businessman and among the first developers of large avocado orchards in the region. Foreign travel convinced Hansen that if adversaries could be encouraged to work together on projects of mutual benefit, conflict could be mitigated, and differences healed. Hansen designated a portion of his estate to promote this vision at SDSU and, more widely, in the San Diego metropolitan area.