HISTORY

Joseph and Mercedes McMicking were both born in Manila, Philippines in the early part of the 20th Century. 

Joseph McMicking was the son of Jose La Madrid McMicking and Angelina Ynchausti McMicking. He was educated at De La Salle School in Manila, Tamalpais School for Boys, San Rafael in California, and Stanford University. He started his long business career after returning to Manila by selling cameras and cars and in 1931 he joined Insular Life, a member of Ayala & Co.

Mercedes McMicking was the daughter of Enrique Zobel and Consuelo Roxas Zobel. She was educated both in Manila and Spain before returning to Manila. In 1931 she married her childhood friend Joseph McMicking.

Joseph McMicking became a pilot in 1930. He was also a flying instructor and a reserve officer in the Philippine Air Force. He was a member of General MacArthur’s staff throughout World War II, attaining the rank of Lt. Colonel in the United States Army. Returning to the Philippines with the liberation in 1945, he resumed his business career in Manila and became the managing partner and the visionary of the Ayala Corp. group of companies. 

In 1948, in San Francisco, McMicking and Co. -- one of the first venture capital firms in California -- was formed by Joseph and his brother Henry A. McMicking. They were instrumental in funding Ampex Corporation, the pioneer in developing audio and videotape technology. Upon his retirement from Ayala Corp. in 1960, his next successful project was the development of a residential and resort community in Sotogrande, Spain. Until his death in 1990, Joseph McMicking was actively involved both in venture capital in the Bay Area and his business interests in the Philippines and Spain.

Joseph and Mercedes McMicking were the founders and principal benefactors of the Filipinas Foundation in the Philippines. Renamed the Ayala Foundation, it is one of the leading foundations in the Philippines. The McMickings were also the founders of the Ayala Museum in Manila and gifted the land to build the Asian Institute of Management. Mercedes McMicking supported a large number of children’s charitable organizations in Manila. She was one of the original founders of White Cross, a home for orphans and children of tuberculin patients. Her interests and commitments were always focused on children and families in need. 

In 1990, the Joseph and Mercedes McMicking Foundation endowed three permanent graduate scholarships at Stanford in the departments of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. 

The Foundation’s trustees continue to honor the wishes of its founders by supporting children in the areas of tuition assistance, technology upgrades, the educational outreach and programs of Bay Area museums and other programs that benefit and enrich children’s education.