Co-founder of once top O.C. subprime lender dies

Edward Gotschall, co-founder of a former market leader in loans to people with spotty credit and a man who pledged millions of dollars to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo and other causes, died Thursday of natural causes, according to Coto de Caza neighbor Paul Scheper and a family friend. He was 53.

Gotschall and three others founded New Century Financial in 1995. He managed the company’s books and worked with Wall Street investment bankers, helping build the Irvine-based lender into one the largest subprime lenders in the nation, with nearly $60 billion in loans in a single year.