John Svenson, Celtics co-owner, developer

When John and Elinor Svenson vacationed in Africa several years ago, their thoughts quickly traveled back home.

"We got off the plane in Botswana, and we were in the Kalahari, and there was this smell of sage that was so potent and wonderful," she said. "We looked at each other and said, 'We're taking our kids next year.' "

For Mr. Svenson, discoveries in his personal life and success in his professional life were inseparable from family and giving back to the community. An avid photographer, some of his best work featured his grandchildren. And he was quick to use his accomplishments as a real estate developer as a steppingstone to philanthropic endeavors.

Mr. Svenson, a co-owner of the Boston Celtics who was chief financial officer of The Abbey Group, a real estate development and management company in Boston, died of cancer Saturday at Brigham & Women's Hospital. He was 58 and had lived in Wayland.

Wyc Grousbeck, managing partner and chief executive officer for the Celtics, released a statement calling Mr. Svenson "an integral part of the Celtics organization and its Shamrock Charitable Foundation."

"He combined humility, grace, accomplishment, and generosity," Grousbeck said. "He will be greatly missed."

"John was an incredibly entertaining person," said Robert Epstein, Mr. Svenson's brother-in-law and chief executive officer of The Abbey Group. "He had a low-key, kind of quiet subtle humor that was incredibly engaging. John always had a comment that would not be apparent and would be very, very witty."

About 4 1/2 years ago, at the end of 2002, The Abbey Group joined with other investment groups to purchase the Boston Celtics, a heady experience for a sports fan such as Mr. Svenson.

"He was immensely proud to become an owner of the Celtics," Epstein said. "Who, growing up, would think where fate would take us? None of us, John included, grew up in terribly wealthy homes, not the kind of childhoods where you would anticipate this level of success."

Mr. Svenson, who had been ill for about a year, returned to his passion for photography during the first months when he could not work. Years ago, his wife said, he spent hours in a darkroom printing "wonderful black and white photographs" such as evocative studies of fire escapes.

Working this time with a computer and digital photography, Mr. Svenson turned to the world around him and to his four granddaughters.

"He was doing these phenomenal pictures of nature, of his grandchildren," his wife said. "He took exquisite pictures of our grandchildren."

After growing up in Beverly, he went to Williston Academy in Northampton and graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he met Elinor Epstein, another student. They married in 1970.

"People loved how funny he was; that's why I married him," she said. "And he was extremely handsome; that's another reason I married him."

Returning to the Boston area, he received a master's in business administration from Boston University and became a certified public accountant. The Svensons lived in Cambridge, then Newton, and later in Wayland, where he was a founding member of the Arts-Wayland Foundation.

Mr. Svenson had been financial controller of Advent Corp. in Cambridge before joining with his brothers-in-law Robert and David Epstein to found The Abbey Group in 1982.

The three ran the company as brothers, and trust was implicit. David was president, Robert was chief executive and chairman, and Mr. Svenson was treasurer and chief financial officer, but "the corporate titles were really for the outside world," Robert Epstein said. "We were three equal partners and three owners of The Abbey Group."

Among the company's projects were the Landmark Center in the Fenway, Lafayette Corporate Center at Downtown Crossing, and the Riverside Technology Center in Cambridge.

"He was the financial architect of what we did," Epstein said.

Mr. Svenson also had served on the board of directors for Horizons for Homeless Children in Boston, the board of trustees for the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and with his wife had worked with Jewish Family and Children's Services of Greater Boston.

"John always emphasized the importance of where his life had gone and what he had become, and he always thought of how he could give back," his wife said.

"He was extremely generous and thoughtful and really, really cared about the children we served and the families that were homeless," said Sue Heilman, executive director of Horizons for Homeless Children. "He was a very valuable board member in many ways. He really was one of the nicest people."

Amid the demands of his company and his volunteer work, Mr. Svenson placed first the everyday needs of his wife; his daughter, Sarah Nielsen of Weston; and his two sons, Eric of Weston and Benjamin of Boston.

"Nothing went ahead of family," his wife said, adding that "he had a capacity for bringing people into his life," including his son-in-law, Dana Nielsen, and his daughter- in-law, Sarah (Burman) Svenson. "We always said, 'We gave birth to three children, and now we have five.' "

Mr. Svenson also had an aptitude for knowing what to say and when to say it.

"This morning I was writing something to say at the funeral," his wife said. "And I was sad, because I would always turn to him and say, 'What do you think, will you look at this?' I miss that, because you could ask him, and he would always find the word. He would get the essence of what should be said."

Mr. Svenson also leaves his mother, Janet of Shrewsbury.

A funeral will be held today at 1 p.m. in Temple Shir Tikva in Wayland. Burial will be private.