No. 17
Anthony Maglica
Founder, president, owner,
Mag Instrument Inc.
estimated worth: $500 million
At 78, Tony Maglica still can be found on the shop floor.
He heads Ontario-based Mag Instrument Inc., maker of flashlights used by firefighters, police officers and everyday folks alike. The Anaheim Hills resident is one of Orange County’s great entrepreneur engineers.
Maglica, who got his start as a machinist, still works on prototypes at Mag’s plant in Ontario. He holds hundreds of patents.
We estimate Maglica’s worth at $500 million, down from $570 million a year ago on a presumed drop in valuations for all sorts of private companies.
But Mag still is presumed to carry a premium, with its niche in high-end flashlights that have a devoted following. Companies such as Ener-gizer Holdings Inc. or Asian rivals could pay top dollar for MagLite. So could private equity suitors.
We’ve also tried to factor in Maglica’s flashlight-related patents in our estimate.
Maglica shows no interest in selling the company. Two of his sons work at the company and are likely candidates to take over.
Maglica was born in New York and grew up on the island of Zlarin in Croatia after the Great Depression pushed his family to move back to their homeland.
When World War II devastated Croatia, he returned to America and settled in Ontario in the 1950s.
Early on, he worked as a machinist and saved $125 for a down payment on a lathe and started his own machine tool business. Maglica made parts for aerospace and defense contractors, earning a reputation for quality.
He started Mag in 1975. The company’s trademark flashlight was introduced in 1979.
In the 1970s, Maglica met former longtime girlfriend Claire Halasz.
In the 1990s, Maglica and Halasz went through a high-profile palimony case, settling for about $30 million.
,Michael Lyster
No. 18
Lynsi Martinez
Heiress, owner, director,
In-N-Out Burgers Inc.
estimated worth: $425 million
Lynsi Martinez can thank an inheritance in burgers as a more stable investment than any real estate.
The heiress and owner of Irvine-based In-N-Out Burgers Inc. remains the youngest person to make our list of Orange County’s wealthiest.
At 27, she’s estimated at $425 million, unchanged from a year ago based on growth at In-N-Out, relatively stable fast food stocks and the company’s cult-like following.
Our estimate comes from Martinez’s staggered inheritance of trusts in the next eight years. She already owns a third of the trusts covering In-N-Out. Her stakes goes up to half in three years and 100% four years later.
We’ve assigned the value of the trusts to Martinez, presuming she could sell the rights to her inheritance or gain financing based on the wealth coming to her.
She inherited a company with estimated yearly sales of $450 million that counts Tom Hanks and other celebrities as fans. In-N-Out likely would fetch a big premium if it ever were sold.
Martinez is the granddaughter of late Harry and Esther Snyder, who founded In-N-Out in 1948 with a restaurant in Baldwin Park.
Rich Snyder, her uncle, ran the company as president after Harry Snyder died in 1976 at 63.
Rich Snyder died in a 1993 plane crash, putting Martinez’s father Guy Snyder in charge. He died in 1999 of a prescription drug overdose, prompting Esther Snyder to take over as president until her 2006 death.
Mark Taylor, husband of Esther Snyder’s half-sister and former vice president of operations, now serves as president, running In-N-Out in consultation with Martinez.
The company had a public boardroom brawl in 2005 that drew plenty of headlines. Former executive Richard Boyd sued, alleging Martinez was trying to speed her accession by ousting elderly Esther Snyder.
In-N-Out countersued Boyd for alleged embezzlement and fraud. The sides settled in 2006 for undisclosed terms.
Martinez is media shy and doesn’t seek at-tention. She’s involved with the In-N-Out Foundation, which raises money for underprivileged children.
,Michael Volpe
No. 18
Vincent “Vinny” Smith
Executive chairman,
Quest Software Inc.
estimated worth: $425 million
Vincent “Vinny” Smith’s dominant stake in Aliso Viejo’s Quest Software Inc. has held up pretty well, with the company’s shares flat in the past 12 months.
Smith, Quest’s former chief executive turned executive chairman, owns 31 million shares with a recent market value of about $450 million.
We’ve estimated Smith at $425 million this year, down from $575 million in 2008, based on the recent settlement of a divorce from former wife Kelly Thornton Smith.
She’s now a philanthropist who gives to charities through the Irvine-based Orange County Community Foundation.
Our estimate for Smith also includes past stock sales and other investments he’s made. We presume he settled his divorce for less than half of his wealth.
Smith had run Quest for more than a decade. Last year he handed over the chief executive’s title in an orderly succession to Doug Garn, who had been president.
Quest makes software that improves on or helps manage other business programs from Oracle Corp., Microsoft Corp. and others.
Smith is a low-key multimillionaire who goes by Vinny and often sports jeans and a cap.
Known as a savvy investor, Smith has said he likes to dabble in various ventures, including real estate and restaurants.
Smith started his career with Oracle after graduating from the University of Delaware in 1986. In 1992, he started San Francisco’s Patrol Software with an Oracle colleague. BMC Software Inc. bought Patrol in 1994.
Smith’s interest in Quest grew through an investment his Insight Capital Partners made in 1995. He took a seat on the Quest’s board and gradually became more involved, becoming chief executive in 1997 and chairman a year later.
Smith supports several charitable causes, including the Miocean Foundation, Augie’s Quest for Lou Gehrig’s disease and various kids programs.
,Sarah Tolkoff
No. 20
Duane Roberts
Chairman, chief executive,
Entrepreneurial Corporate Group
estimated worth: $400 million
Duane Roberts intended to be an investment banker but ended up inventing the frozen burrito.
We estimate Roberts’ wealth at $400 million, down from $450 million a year ago based on presumed lower valuations for his investments, real estate and companies.
His businesses include a landmark Riverside hotel, British food makers and apartments. He runs it all out of his Newport Beach-based Entrepreneurial Corporate Group and frequents his native Riv-erside, home to his Mission Inn Hotel & Spa.
We’ve pegged our estimate of Roberts on his ownership of 14,000 apartments in the Southwest, the Mission Inn and the British food makers he owns.
In 1950, his dad, Harry Roberts, started Butcher Boy Food Products Inc., a meat company that was the main supplier of patties to McDonald’s and other fast food chains. Roberts dropped out of college to help his dad.
While working at Butcher Boy, Roberts, then 19, came up with what is billed as the first frozen burrito. At 27, Roberts became president and built Butcher Boy to six plants and 1,400 workers.
By the time the family sold the business to Central Soya Inc. in 1980, Butcher Boy had an estimated $85 million in yearly sales. The company later became part of Tyson Foods Inc. before being sold to a private equity group.
Roberts went on to sell another burrito company, Fernando’s Foods, to ConAgra Foods Inc. in the late 1990s for about $35 million in ConAgra stock.
Roberts took his Mexican food fortune and branched out into real estate, as well as banking and other investments. He’s spread his wealth. Roberts built a 17,000-square-foot Riverside Humane Society pet adoption center and has given “seven figures” to Pepperdine University, where his stepdaughter attends.
The Mission Inn, which Roberts saved from demolition 17 years ago, has been the site of many Republican fundraisers. Roberts held one there in 2008 for John McCain.
,Sherri Cruz
No. 21
Fariborz Maseeh
Founder, managing principal,
Picoco LLC
estimated worth: $375 million
Engineer Fariborz Maseeh cashed out at the peak of the technology boom.
He’s cofounder and former chief executive of IntelliSense Corp., a Massachusetts maker of software for what are known as microelectromechanical systems, or microscopic machines that run on a chip.
MEMs, as they’re called, go into a variety of devi-ces, including pacemakers and aircraft landing gear.
Maseeh ran IntelliSense from 1991 until he sold it to Corning Inc. for about $750 million in two transactions in 1999 and 2000.
Our estimate for Maseeh is based on the sale and presumes he exited some of his Corning shares before the stock crashed in 2001. He could be worth more.
Like others, Maseeh is apt to have seen fluctuation in his wealth in the past year. But without a good read on his investments, we opted to leave our estimate for him unchanged from a year ago.
Maseeh now runs his own investment firm, Picoco LLC, in Newport Beach. A spokeswoman declined to give specifics about the company’s investments and assets.
He’s also big on philanthropy. He gives via the Massiah Foundation, which makes investments in education, science, healthcare, the arts and humanities.
In 2005, he gave $2 million to start the Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture at the University of California, Irvine.
In October, Maseeh’s set to receive the UC Irvine Medal, the school’s highest honor.
Other gifts went to alma maters Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Portland State University, where the engineering school was named for him after an $8 million contribution.
He’s also given to Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
Maseeh’s a member of the Samueli School of Engineering advisory board at UCI and serves on similar boards at Portland State and the University of Southern California. He also is a member of the UCI Foundation board of trustees.
Maseeh grew up in Tehran and came to the U.S. at age 18 to attend college.
,Sarah Tolkoff
No. 22
Peter Cooper
Founder, executive chairman,
Cooper and Co.
estimated worth: $350 million
Real estate developer and investor Peter Cooper splits his time,and wealth,between here and his native New Zealand.
His Newport Beach-based Cooper and Co. develops, manages and owns real estate in the U.S. and New Zealand. He also invests in companies.
The real estate downturn and a decline in the New Zealand dollar led us to lower our estimate for Cooper to $350 million from $450 million a year ago.
In New Zealand, Coop-er’s working on a massive redevelopment of the rundown waterfront of Auck-land’s Britomart precinct. Plans call for restoring historic buildings and building offices, shops and apartments.
The project is valued at about $600 million, though Cooper recently told New Zealand TV news that real estate values there are “a moving target.”
The development has seen snags, with the recession killing some apartment and retail projects. A five-star hotel was scrapped after it ran into public opposition.
Cooper also is undertaking something of a labor of love in his homeland. He’s built a 16,000-square-foot home on 4 acres on the northern coast of New Zealand. It’s expected to cost $15 million by the time it’s done in 2010.
The home is one of 44 set to make up Cooper’s Mountain Landing development, which also has been slowed by the recession.
In the 1990s, Cooper and partner Brian Stebbins sold a handful of U.S. shopping centers for about $180 million and went on to develop a 90-store mall near Dallas.
The son of a truck driver, Cooper studied law in Auckland. He began his career as a real estate lawyer with Russell McVeagh, one of New Zealand’s largest law firms.
He went on to work for Australian beer brewer Lion Nathan Ltd.
Cooper came to the U.S. in 1989 with his wife and five children. He’s a director at Georgetown University.
,Michael Lyster
No. 22
James Downey
Owner, Wave Equity Partners LLC
estimated worth: $350 million
Jim Downey cashed out in a wave of consolidation in the aerospace industry earlier this decade.
We estimate his wealth at $350 million based on the sale of his C & D; Aerospace in Huntington Beach to France’s Zodiac SA for $600 million in 2005.
Our estimate is based on the sale and tries to factor in other owners and debt. Our estimate is down slightly from $375 million a year ago, presuming some investment declines. Our figure for Downey could be low.
Childhood friend Toby Crowley was the other founder of C & D;, which was launched in 1972.
The company now goes by C & D; Zodiac Inc. and makes commercial and military aircraft cabin fixtures, including overhead bins cabin lighting and reinforced cockpit doors.
Downey owns Aliso Viejo investment firm Wave Equity Partners LLC. He keeps a low profile, but he has given about $10 million to charity since the C & D; sale.
His Downey-Short Foundation supports patients undergoing cancer treatment. The James E. Downey Foundation has given scholarships to more than 175 college students in Orange County and Illinois. He also supports education in Brazil.
Downey has pledged $11.5 million to be given out through 2012 to other causes.
,Dan Beighley
No. 24
Michael Harrah
Owner, president
Caribou Industries Inc.
estimated worth: $325 million
Mike Harrah, Santa Ana’s largest commercial real estate owner, has made money in a city others have shied away from.
We estimate Harrah at $325 million, based on his real estate in Santa Ana and Hawaii and his Cari-bou Industries Inc., a development, construction and property management company.
Like other real estate executives, our estimate for Harrah is down from a year ago. In 2008, we estimated him at $425 million. At the peak of the market in 2007, we valued Harrah at $500 million.
Harrah owns close to 4 million square feet of commercial space in downtown Santa Ana and around the Civic Center. His holdings include nearly 50 office buildings, stores, restaurants and a concert hall, The OC Pavilion, which Harrah designed and built himself.
He owns close to a quarter of Santa Ana’s office buildings, many of which are leased to government tenants. They’ve proven to be relatively stable during the downturn.
Harrah also has minimal debt on his buildings, many of which were bought on the cheap during Santa Ana’s downtrodden days in the 1980s.
We’ve considered land and approvals for Harrah’s proposed One Broadway Plaza office tower in Santa Ana, though we don’t consider the long-delayed project a major factor in his wealth.
In Hawaii, Harrah built Pinnacle Honolulu, a 36-story condominium tower. Harrah also owns a Honolulu hotel.
Other assets include jets, helicopters and a collection of rare automobiles.
Harrah’s the designer, builder and contractor for the campus of the Orange County High School of the Arts, where he has given more than $2 million. He also supports the Boys & Girls Club, D.A.R.E. and was awarded the top honor of Making a Difference by the Child Abuse Prevention Center of Orange County in 2007.
,Mark Mueller
No. 25
Fletcher “Ted” Jones Jr.
Chief executive, president
Fletcher Jones Management Group Inc.
estimated worth: $315 million
Even in a tough year for auto sales, Fletcher “Ted” Jones Jr.’s auto empire ranks him among the county’s wealthiest.
We estimate Jones at $315 million, down from $400 million a year ago amid the worst industry downturn in recent memory.
Our estimate is based on a valuation of Fletcher Jones Management Group Inc. after subtracting a portion for debt and any other owners. It presumes lower valuations for auto dealers this year.
Jones, whose father started in the auto business in 1946, sells Mercedes, Porsche, Toyota and other brands at dealerships in Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada and California. His Fletcher Jones Motorcars in Newport Beach is the county’s largest dealership by revenue and second in the country after Longo Toyota in El Monte.
The group has annual sales of about $1.6 billion, with the Newport Beach dealership accounting for $570 million. His most expansive dealership is the 225,000-square-foot Fletcher Jones Imports, a Las Vegas Mercedes dealer modeled after the one in Newport Beach.
Fletcher Jones Management is based in Las Vegas. Jones lives in Newport Beach and has an office at Fletcher Jones Motorcars, where general manager Garth Blumenthal oversees day-to-day business.
This past year, Jones opened dealerships in Maui and Henderson, Nev., near Las Vegas. Dealerships in Ontario and Temecula are on hold. His dealerships contribute to several charities through sponsorships and golf tournaments.
,Sherri Cruz
No. 26
Sheldon Razin
Founder, chairman,
Quality Systems Inc.
estimated worth: $300 million
Razin, a 71-year-old Boston native who turned $2,000 into Irvine-based Quality Systems Inc.,a medical software maker worth $1.5 billion at recent check,debuts on the Business Journal’s list of OC’s Wealthiest.
Quality, which makes software that helps doctors and dentists manage their practices, has been a Wall Street favorite. Its shares are up more than 2,000% since the beginning of the decade and are up about 30% from the start of the year.
Razin owns 5.2 million shares, an 18% stake with a recent market value of $280 million. Our estimate is based on that and presumes other investments. We’ve tried to account for past stock sales, the cost of exercising options and taxes.
Razin is one of the few on our list who’s presumed to have seen his wealth grow in the past year.
Quality’s boomed as doctors and dentists seek to adopt technology to create “paperless offices.” The company’s also expected to benefit from up to $20 billion in healthcare information technology investments as part of President Obama’s plans for healthcare reform.
Quality grew out of a management consulting business Razin started in the early 1970s to develop commercial software. The company started selling to dentists, then added doctors and went public in 1982, raising $11 million.
Razin has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technol-ogy. Before starting Quality, he held various technical and managerial positions at former OC aerospace company Rockwell International Corp.
He’s given to MIT, the Chabad Jewish Center of Laguna Beach and the Alzheimer’s Association. The married father of two and grandfather of five said he enjoys swimming in the ocean from his Laguna Beach home to the Surf and Sand Hotel.
,Vita Reed
No. 27
Joan Irvine Smith
Heiress, philanthropist
estimated worth: $275 million
Joan Irvine Smith, great-granddaughter of Irvine Ranch founder James Irvine, is one of the county’s best-known supporters of the environment, arts and education.
One of her biggest visions is coming to fruition this fall, when the University of California, Irvine’s School of Law opens. Smith, an early UC Irvine champion, gave $1 million for the law school.
We estimate Smith’s wealth at $275 million. That’s down from $300 million a year ago, based on a presumed fall in some investments.
Her fortune comes from her greatgrandfather, who struck it rich during the Gold Rush of 1849. James Irvine and three partners bought 120,000 acres of land, which made up about a quarter of Orange County at the time.
James Irvine II, Smith’s grandfather, incor-porated the land as Irvine Land Co. in the 1890s.
In 1977, a group including Donald Bren acquired control of what later became Irvine Company. Bren became sole owner in 1996.
In 1991, he paid a $256 million court award to Smith and late mother Athalie Clarke for their shares.
Smith and Bren are cordial. They share a passion for the environment and preserving parts of the Irvine Ranch as open space.
Besides the environment, education and the arts, Smith’s other passions include world-class jumping horses and politics.
An ardent Democrat, Smith has given money to Hillary Clinton, Loretta Sanchez, Ted Kennedy, John Edwards and others.
,Vita Reed
No. 27
Michael Wilson
Chief executive,
Makena Technologies Inc.
estimated worth: $275 million
Michael Wilson was employee No. 4 at eBay Inc.
He made millions in eBay’s 1998 $63 million initial public offering and ensuing stock rise.
Wilson “retired” from eBay in 2001 as chief scientist and dabbled in startups. He moved to Laguna Beach in 2005.
Now Wilson heads Makena Technologies Inc., which runs virtual online community There.com.
Our $275 million estimate for Wilson comes from his early eBay shares and his stake in Makena. Without a good read on Wilson’s finances, we’ve left him unchanged from a year ago. He could be worth more.
At Makena, which has its on-the-books headquarters in Silicon Valley, Wilson is a director and heads engineering and community efforts out of a secondary office in Laguna.
There.com runs a Web site where people take on digital personas, take part in online activities and interact with each other. The site makes money from members and advertising, including from Coca-Cola Co., Viacom Inc.’s MTV Networks Co. and Toyota Motor Corp.
In the mid-1990s, Wilson was hired as an engineer at eShop, a software company that was bought by Microsoft Corp. in 1996.
At eShop, Wilson met eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, who was tinkering with the code that would make online auctions happen.
Wilson is involved in the Maya Foundation, an education nonprofit, and its sister organization, the Tzec Maun Foundation, which provides students with access to telescopes and “Internet astronomy.”
He also gives to Child’s Play, which gives sick kids video games during hospital stays, and to Toys for Tots.
,Sarah Tolkoff
No. 29
Rick Aversano
Cofounder, Qtera Corp.,
philanthropist
estimated worth: $250 million
Rick Aversano and his wife, Wendy, are community theater lovers who support their passion with big checks, giving to Irvine’s Barclay Theater and Laguna Playhouse.
Their largess comes from Rick Aversano’s days before he came to Orange County. In 2000, he and other cofounders sold Boca Raton, Fla.-based Qtera Corp. to Nortel Networks Corp. for more than $3 billion.
The founders struck it rich before ever selling a single product after finding a way to boost the distance and speed of data flowing over fiber optic cables, which was key to Nortel’s networking gear.
Aversano was the head guy in brokering the Nortel deal. Before Qtera, he was at a handful of tech startups.
We estimate Aversano at $250 million, based on his Qtera stake at the time of the sale. We presume he sold at least some of his Nortel stock before it crashed in 2001.
He’s now partly retired, overseeing investments and philanthropy. The couple also has given to the Surfrider Foundation and Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.
The Aversanos also are big supporters of Democrats, including Loretta Sanchez and President Obama.
Last year, the Aversanos sold a Corona del Mar home for about $27 million. At one point the Aversanos owned Corona del Mar’s Port Theater and later sold it to fellow OC’s Wealthiest Fariborz Maseeh.
,Michael Lyster
Manouch Moshayedi
Chairman, chief executive,
STEC Inc.
estimated worth: $250 million
Mark Moshayedi
President, chief operating officer,
chief technology officer, STEC
estimated worth: $250 million
There’s nothing like the smell of surging wealth in a down economy.
Brothers Manouch and Mark Moshayedi have enjoyed a big run-up in their stakes in Santa Ana-based STEC Inc., maker of a new type of data storage drive.
Shares of STEC are up more than 200% in the past 12 months with a recent market value of $1.6 billion. The surge has boosted the value of the stakes of Manouch and Mark Moshayedi, who started the business as SimpleTech Inc., a maker of memory products for computers and consumer electronics.
They sold that part of the business to San Mateo’s Fabrik Inc. in 2007 and changed the company’s name to STEC.
Mark Moshayedi owns 10.3 million shares of STEC with a recent market value of $335 million. Manouch Moshayedi owns 7.3 million shares worth about $240 million at recent check.
But the Mosha-yedis’ wealth is intertwined. Most of Mark’s shares are held in a trust for Manouch’s kids.
Most of Manouch’s shares are held in a trust for Mark’s kids.
We’ve estimated both to be worth about $250 million, after factoring in past stock sales, costs for exercising options and taxes. Both have been steadily selling STEC shares and have other investments.
Their company makes drives for storing data using flash memory instead of spinning disks found in traditional computer disk drives.
The drives, known as solid state since they don’t have moving parts, are gaining ground with makers of data storage computers and users that require constant reliability.
Customers include EMC Corp., Hitachi Data Systems Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc., IBM Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd.
Last month, STEC upped its forecast for sales of the drive after an undisclosed customer ordered more.
The Moshayedis started the business in the 1990s. They took what then was Simple Technology public in 2001, raising $70 million.
Brother Mike Moshayedi retired after the business sale to Fabrik. He owns about 6 million shares with a market value of about $200 million and appears on our list of Other Centimillionaires on page 38.
,Michael Lyster
