Heiress, Philanthropist
Heiress, Philanthropist
FAMILY HISTORY: Their grandfather made his first million in 1916 in Oklahoma oil and became a billionaire from work in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the 1940s and 1950s. Other holdings included aircraft maker Spartan.
Some news reports at the time said he was the world’s wealthiest man. The sisters were born in the 1950s to J. Paul’s eldest son, George Franklin Getty II.
THE NUMBERS: J. Paul died in 1976, leaving $700 million to fund the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and a family fortune disputed for nine years by dozens of descendants. It included 40% of Getty Oil; a family trust in 1984 sold that for $4 billion to Texaco. The museum also got a boost, selling its 12% holdings as part of Texaco’s takeover. Anne and Caroline each received about $750 million from the will and $400 million apiece from the Texaco deal.
KEY METRIC: We’ve taken the very private duo’s wealth up 8% to $1.7 billion, in line with what sources say would be an average return for modest trust fund investing.
PHILANTHROPY: The sisters stay out of the public eye and give to environmental and left-of-center political causes. Some of Anne’s giving flows through the Marisla Foundation in Laguna Beach, for her daughter Sara’s middle name—which had $40.7 million in assets at the end of 2017, according to GuideStar USA Inc. The foundation in 2016 said it would give $100 million over five years to support projects to end overfishing, control plastic pollution, and protect marine mammals, according to a U.S. State Department report. Marisla gave money to fight the San Joaquin Hills (73) Toll Road in the 1990s and has backed the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Anne was honored with a Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2019. Caroline is even less in the limelight than her older sister; she’s an environmental activist and has served on boards and councils of the Wilderness Society, World Wildlife Fund, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation.
+8%
• NET WORTH: $1.7 billion
• LAST YEAR: $1.57 billion
• SOURCE OF WEALTH: heiress
