"Darkness had swallowed up the 7-Eleven along Mission Boulevard in Pacific Beach. It was after 11 p.m. on a weeknight, when the tourists scatter and those without homes turn up collars and blankets to fend off the bracing ocean cold. Mixing among them was the owner of a Major League Baseball team who, at the time, was the face of the $1.5 billion Seidler Equity Partners.

While others scrambled to other sidewalks and parts of the street. Peter Seidler began conversations, offering compassion and empathy. He snapped up hot dogs for men sitting on the sidewalk out front, the forgotten and disconnected.

I did two or three of those wee-morning walks with Seidler, never betraying his anonymity. I wanted to see how he handled the sometimes scary streets at night where mental health issues, drugs and financial wreckage leave far too many adrift. I wanted to see how those mired in a litany of life challenges interacted to the kindness of a stranger who secretly was one of the most influential change agents in San Diego. There was absolutely nothing guarded or phony about the connections he forged, ambling up and down the boardwalk until 1 a.m. or later."

A story of Peter's compassion, as told by his wife, Scheel Seidler