About Us
Four Generations
The managers of The Thorinson Family Office have been in the construction and real estate industry for four generations.
The Thorinson Family Office has four investment funds (I, II, III, and IV) with properties located in Texas, Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Nevada, and California.
Bobby Elam
Bobby Elam is the Managing Partner of the Thorinson Family Office. Elam is a commercial real estate broker and Stanford JD attorney with a successful 13-year track record across six investment funds. Prior to founding The Thorinson Family Office, he was a partner at Epperly & Elam, LLP with a practice in business and real estate litigation. He is a former Fulbright scholar to the United Kingdom.
Lori Gruber
Lori Gruber is the Chief Financial Officer for The Thorinson Family Office and is responsible for all the company’s financial functions including accounting and finance. Her career spans more than 15 years of financial management and accounting. Prior to joining The Thorinson Family Office, she served as the assistant controller for Bank of San Francisco, Union Bank, and Tamalpais Bank. Lori holds a B.A. degree from UCSB in business economics with an emphasis in accounting and a Certificate of real estate investment from Oxford University.
Cabral Bonner
Cabral Bonner is the General Counsel of the Thorinson Family Office. Also, a Stanford JD, Cabral has been investing in real estate for the past 14 years. Cabral has participated in a wide array of deals, from single-family projects to 100-unit multifamily syndications and NNN-leased industrial projects. He joined forces with his father Charles Bonner in their practice focused on civil rights, employment discrimination, personal injury and mass tort. Cabral has participated in more than 15 jury and bench trials as either co-counsel or lead trial counsel. Cabral leverages his legal understanding and breadth of experience to focus on compliance and deal structuring that will minimize risk and maximize return. Cabral lives in Oakland with his wife and two daughters.
We are headquartered in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
NAMESAKE
Mr. & Mrs. Fred H. Thorinson (1886-1969)
He was born in North Dakota but moved to Blaine, Washington where he began working as a carpenter at the age of 15. Starting his own contracting firm in 1909, he built residential, commercial and industrial buildings in Vancouver, Alaska and throughout the Northwest.
His career in San Francisco began in 1922 and for the last 47 years all of his building, primarily homes, was confined to the San Francisco-Marin area. Among the many subdivisions built and developed by his firm were: St. Mary’s Park, in partnership with the Stoneson Brothers (Stonestown Galleria and Stoneson Development Corporation fame), Wabash Terrace, Thornton Terrace, Westwood Terrace, Sun Valley, Fredson Court, La Grand Vue, Sherwood Heights, the Mission, Ingleside, Cow Palace, Mt. Davidson, and the Sunset, all in San Francisco, Rafael Highlands and in San Marin, Marin County. The initial capital of the partnership, which the three formed, was a mere seven hundred dollars. Fortunately, they found a building supply owner who was sympathetic. Upon approaching him for a loan of materials with which to build a house to be put up for sale, their small capital to be their down payment, the man looked him in the eye and said, “You look honest to me. I’ll take a chance on you.” This resulted in a lifelong tie between supplier and contractor, for the Stoneson Brothers and Thorinson, formerly known as Thorarinson.
From 1938 to 1945, the Thorinsons were successful in purchasing all of the land around Ice Lakes near Donner Summit, a total of 2,700 acres. He bought some of the land from card shark Joe King, of which legend has it that Kings Beach, California is named after him when he won the rights to the town in a poker game. It was a dream of the Thorinsons to build a ski resort but they were ahead of his times (Alpine Meadows did not open until 1961).
Active in his building business until his last illness, Fred was proud of his lifetime of building homes and to the returning U.S. veterans from World War II. In one newspaper article, he spoke in support of our troops serving in WWII, promising them good homes when they return. He passed away on January 22, 1969 and his wife, Evelyn, followed him in death three days later.
