1. Donald Bren
Owner, chairman,
The Irvine Company
Estimated worth: $10.5 billion
Donald Bren, owner and chairman of The Irvine Company, is estimated at $10.5 billion in wealth this year, up from $8.75 billion at the top of our ranking last year.
Bren saw the value of his office buildings, apartments, shopping centers and hotels rise in the past year. A big source of his wealth,land for development,likely fell in value with the housing downturn. Sales of lots to homebuilders are believed to be markedly down from a year ago.
But our estimate for Bren isn’t based solely on market swings in his vast real estate empire. The change this year mostly is due to a revision in our estimate,we’ve bumped up this year’s figure to account for some overly conservative estimates in prior years.
And our figure still is conservative,real estate experts put his wealth at closer to $15 billion, while the most aggressive estimates are closer to $20 billion.
Even at $10.5 billion, Bren joins an exclusive club. He’s the richest person the county’s ever seen, surpassing Broadcom Corp. cofounders Henry Samueli and Henry Nicholas, who peaked at $10 billion in 2000, the height of the technology boom.
Bren’s estimated worth exceeds the combined total of the next five billionaires on our ranking.
He’s also the richest real estate owner among the Forbes 400, where he ranked No. 27 overall at $8.5 billion in September.
Bren got his start as a homebuilder in 1958 and later formed Mission Viejo Co. with the O’Neill-Moiso family before selling his stake to his partners.
In 1977, he was part of a group that acquired control of the Irvine Co., the successor to the massive ranch bought by James Irvine in the 1800s.
Bren bought out most partners for $518 million in 1983.
In 1991, he paid a $256 million court award to heiresses Joan Irvine Smith and mother Athalie Clarke for their shares.
He became the Irvine Co.’s sole owner in 1996.
Bren has expanded to San Diego, Los Angeles and Silicon Valley in recent years. His core holdings are in OC, where the Irvine Co. is the county’s biggest landowner and landlord.
The company owns more than 400 office buildings, 40 shopping centers and 90 apartment complexes.
Office towers, “flex-tech” industrial buildings and shopping centers span more than an estimated 33 million square feet of space.
Like other area landlords, the company’s buildings are seeing big jumps in rents. Local vacancy rates are less than 10%.
The Irvine Co. had fewer subprime mortgage tenants than other landlords and has been able to backfill much of the space those tenants gave up.
The company has been pushing ahead on a growth plan that led to Bren being named the Business Journal’s Businessperson of the Year for 2006.
In February, the company paid Blackstone Group LP a reported $1 billion for a number of San Diego office buildings once owned by Equity Office Properties Trust.
The deal made the Irvine Co. the dominant landlord in La Jolla, adding 17 buildings and 2.1 million square feet of towers and low-rise offices to its portfolio there.
Also in February, the company announced plans to build a 34-story office tower in downtown San Diego, where Bren has bought close to $1 billion in office towers in recent years. It will be the company’s largest office building yet.
In OC, Bren’s holdings include large parts of the 5,000-acre Irvine Spectrum and Newport Center, half of the 185-acre University Research Park next to the University of California, Irvine, and all of Fashion Island, Jamboree Center, MacArthur Court and the Island Hotel Newport Beach.
The company is putting up its first office towers here in more than 15 years. Construction is nearing completion on 20-40 Pacifica, twin 15-story towers next to Irvine Spectrum Center.
A fifth office building at the recently acquired Irvine Towers project is nearly done. There are no tenants lined up for any of the three towers, which is bound to cause some anxiety as their completion nears.
Earlier this year, the company saw chipmaker Broadcom move into nearly 700,000 square feet of custom developed office and laboratory space at University Research Park.
Rent from offices, apartments and shopping centers is estimated at around $1.5 billion yearly. Land sales and development push annual revenue to an estimated $2 billion plus.
This year stands to see a drop in land sales as homebuilders cut back on lots to build on amid the housing slowdown.
We figure the Irvine Co. could have 20,000 to 25,000 housing lots to sell or develop as apartments in the next couple decades.
The biggest remaining development for Bren is the balance of Irvine’s Northern Sphere, which eventually could include 12,000 homes and apartments. The company also is developing homes in East Orange and Anaheim Hills.
Bren’s undeveloped land is estimated at 25,000 acres in OC, though probably half of that is developable. He’s set aside more than half of the historic 93,000-acre Irvine Ranch as parks, trails and open space.
Bren’s immense wealth has brought sizable giving. BusinessWeek continues to name him one of the nation’s most generous philanthropists.
Last year, Bren gave $20 million to Irvine schools to hire more teachers in arts, music and science. He’s also given $1.5 million to the Think Together after-school program in Santa Ana.
Also in 2006, Bren pledged $20 million to support the Irvine Ranch Land Reserve Trust. In all, he’s given $50 million for conservation and to improve public access to the 50,000-acre land preserve that stretches from the hills to the Pacific Ocean.
In 2003, Bren gave $20 million to the University of California, Irvine’s computer school. In all, he’s given about $42 million to UC Irvine and has endowed more distinguished faculty chairs at the University of California than any other donor, earning him the University of California Presidential Medal in 2004.
,Mark Mueller
2. Roland Arnall
Owner, ACC Capital Holdings Corp.;
U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands
Estimated worth: $2 billion
Roland Arnall’s estimated worth took a hit in the past year with the fall in the subprime mortgage sector and its onetime leader, his Ameriquest Mortgage Co. and related companies.
But he’s still rich.
We’re estimating Arnall at $2 billion, based on disclosures he made before becoming ambassador to the Netherlands last year as well as input from sources about his other holdings in real estate, oil, financial services, apartments, hotels and other businesses.
Our estimate is up from last year’s $1.8 billion, which we realize is counterintuitive. But we likely undervalued Arnall and his other investments a year ago.
In September, Forbes valued Arnall at $3 billion, before the subprime meltdown. In March, for the magazine’s list of the world’s billionaires, it took him down to $2.5 billion.
Ameriquest parent ACC Capital Holdings Corp., once a big part of Arnall’s wealth, now likely is well less than half.
Arnall’s 10-acre Holmby Hills estate and 1,100-acre Aspen, Colo., ranch actually might be worth more than his mortgage companies, considering dramatic drops in value at other subprime lenders that have filed for bankruptcy or been unloaded in fire sales.
A first-quarter survey of subprime mortgage lenders showed big declines in business at Orange-based ACC Capital with an estimated $2 billion in loans, down 76% from a year earlier, according to trade publication National Mortgage News. At their peak, Ameriquest and sister company Argent Mortgage were doing close to $12 billion in loans a quarter.
The declines were no surprise. The company planned for an industry slowdown in early 2006 with layoffs and retrenching.
Arnall and wife Dawn are the sole owners of ACC Capital, which also owns AMC Mortgage Services Inc. and Town & Country Credit.
In late 2005, Arnall stepped down as co-chair of ACC Capital to become ambassador. Dawn is chair of the company and also took over several of his directorships.
In February, ACC Capital struck a deal with Citigroup that could result in it buying Argent and AMC Mortgage Services by November.
Late last year, Ameriquest sold its automobile finance unit, Long Beach Acceptance Corp., to Fort Worth, Texas-based AmeriCredit Corp. for $282.5 million.
During the boom years, Arnall likely saw big dividends from his mortgage companies. He used a lot of that to diversify into other investments, according to sources.
When Arnall became ambassador to the Netherlands in early 2006, he sold off stakes in Dutch companies Heineken NV and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, as well as in Unilever, the Dutch-British consumer goods maker.
Like some others on our list, Arnall doesn’t live in Orange County but has derived a good chunk of his wealth from here.
As ambassador, he now calls the Netherlands home. (Arnall was born in Poland and lived in France as a child. He came to California by way of Montreal.)
Arnall’s politics are decidedly Republican these days, though his giving has spanned both sides of the aisle.
He’s a big charitable giver. The Arnalls support Olive Crest Homes and Services for Abused Children, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, among others. He also is the founding co-chairman of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Museum of Tolerance.
2. HENRY NICHOLAS
Cofounder, Broadcom Corp.;
founder, owner, Nicholas Laboratories, Level 7
Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry “Nick” Nicholas could be the most talked about billionaire in Orange County these days.
Nicholas, who left the chipmaker in early 2003, made news in recent weeks after a pair of salacious lawsuits against him surfaced as part of a federal criminal probe into his involvement in options backdating at Broadcom.
The suits raise charges of drug and prostitute use and poor treatment of a personal employee and contractors.
Nicholas denies the lawsuit charges, calling one of them a case of extortion.
The assistant U.S. Attorney in Santa Ana is said to be interested in the suits as part of “an aggressive legal theory” as to whether Broadcom failed to disclose to investors that Nicholas’ alleged drug use hindered his ability to run the company.
Nicholas owns about 29% of the voting stock of Broadcom. He owns about 35 million shares, a stake worth about $1.2 billion. He’s sold about $900 million in Broadcom shares since the company went public in 1998.
We’ve upped our estimate of Nicholas this year to $2 billion from $1.6 billion in 2006 based on gains in Broadcom’s stock and better accounting of his past share sales. Nicholas has been steadily diversifying out of Broadcom, including a recent move to sell $50 million worth of shares.
In 1991, he started Broadcom with Henry Samueli, who’s chairman and chief technology officer. Samueli holds a similar stake in the company.
During the tech boom, their stakes made them the richest people in OC, eclipsing Don Bren for a time.
After leaving Broadcom, Nicholas in 2004 gave $3.3 million to help defeat Proposition 66, which would have weakened California’s three-strikes law.
A former Air Force Academy student, Nicholas was Samueli’s first doctorate student as a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, before turning business partner.
They worked together at TRW Inc. designing chips for the military. They later joined Tustin-based PairGain Technologies Inc., now part of ADC Telecommunication Inc.
Nicholas has given to the University of California, Irvine, and other causes, including a $10 million donation in 2004 to St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, where his kids attend.
Divorce proceedings are under way between Nicholas and wife Stacey, a former Broadcom engineer. The two met at TRW.
The divorce isn’t expected to be settled until next year. It stands to impact our estimate for Nicholas next year, though some say the two could settle for less than half of his wealth.
,Sarah Tolkoff
2. HENRY SAMUELI
Cofounder, chairman, chief technical officer,
Broadcom Corp.
Estimated worth: $2 billion
Henry Samueli jokes he’s now known better as owner of the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks hockey team than for Broadcom Corp., the chipmaker he cofounded with a recent market value of nearly $18 billion.
In June, Samueli and wife Susan reveled in the victory of the Anaheim Ducks hockey team, which they bought two years ago for $75 million from Walt Disney Co. The team now is valued at nearly $160 million.
At Broadcom, Samueli hasn’t escaped scrutiny in the stock options issue, though a company probe found he had only passing involvement in the granting of options.
Samueli and Broadcom face the threat of a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission over the improper backdating of options.
Earlier this year, Broadcom restated past results with charges of $2.2 billion to account for misdated options.
Samueli owns about 30% of the voting stock of Broadcom. He owns about 35 million shares, a stake worth about $1.2 billion. Samueli’s sold some $900 million in Broadcom shares since the company went public in 1998.
He’s said to have done well with investments, according to sources.
We’ve upped our estimate of Samueli to $2 billion this year from $1.6 billion in 2006 based on gains in Broadcom’s stock and better accounting of past share sales.
Samueli is one of the nation’s top philanthropists.
He’s given generously to the University of California’s Irvine and Los Angeles campuses, which renamed their engineering schools after him. In all, Samueli’s given more than $150 million in the past decade.
Samueli’s also given to Republicans and some Democrats.
He’s revered as a visionary, an engineering genius. A former University of California, Los Angeles, professor, he recruited his best students to work at Broadcom.
Cofounder Henry Nicholas was his first doctorate student.
5. George Argyros
Chairman, chief executive,
Arnel & Affiliates; Limited partner, Westar Capital LLC
Estimated worth: $1.8 billion
Sure, things have been good in commercial real estate. But George Argyros’ stocks provided the biggest boost to his wealth in the past year.
We’ve upped our estimate of the former U.S. ambassador to Spain to $1.8 billion, up nearly $500 million from last year.
About half of Argyros’ wealth is tied to real estate,he owns apartments, offices, industrial buildings and shopping centers in and around Orange County.
After a few years of middling results, last year saw big gains for Argyros’ stocks. A major shareholder in Kansas City, Mo.-based DST Systems Inc., Argyros saw his shares in the software company rise 35% in the past 12 months.
Argyros owns close to 8 million shares of DST Systems, which were worth nearly $625 million at last check.
DST is an early investment of Costa Mesa’s Westar Capital LLC, Argyros’ venture capital firm. Other investments include pet products maker Doskocil Manufacturing Co., cooler maker Igloo Products Corp., home healthcare company LifeCare Solutions, and auto parts maker Amerigon Inc.
Argyros also owns a million shares in Santa Ana’s First American Corp. The title insurer and data services company, which counts Argyros as a director, has seen its stock reach a five-year high this summer.
His holdings in First American check in at about $50 million.
Real estate continues to thrive for Argyros. He owns about 5,200 apartments in nearly 20 area complexes with a value of about $1 billion before factoring in debt.
Argyros’ Arnel & Affiliates in Costa Mesa also owns more than 2 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space. Among them: the 280,000-square-foot Metro Pointe in Costa Mesa and the 356,000-square-foot Puente Hills Business Center in Industry.
A longtime force in local real estate, Argyros has been undertaking projects since returning to OC in 2004 from Spain, where he served as U.S. ambassador appointed by President Bush.
A newly formed development and investment venture, Arnel Hopkins Retail Group LLC, is targeting retail developments in Southern California. A $45 million retail project is being built in La Habra with Irvine’s Hopkins Real Estate Group.
Argyros has lived up to his billing as one of OC’s wealthiest. In the 1980s, he owned the Seattle Mariners baseball team and airline AirCal Inc., the latter with William Lyon.
“I thought baseball was nuts. Then I bought an airline,” Argyros said.
Born in Detroit and raised in Pasadena, Argyros graduated from Chapman University in 1959 with a major in business and economics. He also is a grad of Michigan State University. He served as chairman of Chapman’s board of trustees from 1976 until his appointment as ambassador and is the school’s leading benefactor. He rejoined as a trustee upon his return from Spain.
,Mark Mueller
6. Igor Olenicoff
Owner, founder, president,
Olen Properties Corp.
Estimated worth: $1.7 billion
Last year, Igor Olenicoff joined the Business Journal’s billionaire club. This year, he’s pushing the $2 billion mark.
We increased our estimate of Olenicoff by 70% to better reflect the value of the real estate developer’s office buildings, shopping centers and apartments.
It’s one of the biggest increases in our list this year. Our figure also falls in line with that of Forbes, which put Olenicoff at $1.6 billion in September.
We’ve upped our estimate on higher commercial real estate prices as well as input from sources who said Olenicoff has refinanced buildings amid low interest rates, resulting in a jump in cash flow.
His Olen Properties Corp. owns close to 6.2 million square feet of office space, much of it in Orange County, where values continue to rise and rents are at a high.
The company has 66 commercial properties, with about half of those in Irvine. Olen’s buildings, which include towers and low-rise offices, are 95% full. Olen’s looking to convert an industrial site on Von Karman Avenue in Irvine into offices.
His most notable local property: Century Centre, a pair of 13-story office towers on Main Street that he paid $130 million for in 2005.
In Brea, the company has the 884,000-square-foot Olen Pointe Brea office and restaurant complex, which is full. Olen plans to build 256 apartments there this year.
Olen has out-of-state buildings, including the company’s trophy, Chicago’s One South Dearborn tower. The company paid a reported $362 million for the high-rise last year. At $430 per square foot, the sales price was among the highest ever for a Chicago tower at the time. Recent sales have been at nearly $600 per square foot.
Olen owns nearly 11,000 apartments in South Florida, Phoenix and Las Vegas. The apartments alone could be worth $2 billion before debt. Olen owns 41 apartment complexes.
In Irvine, Olenicoff wants to build up to 2,000 apartments in the commercial hub near John Wayne Airport. Plans could include up to two eight-story towers. Getting approvals for the project has been slow. He’s also looking to build apartments in Brea and Santa Ana.
Most of Olen’s plans are outside OC. Nearly 800 apartments have been proposed for Palm Desert. Two housing projects are planned in Florida and Las Vegas, calling for houses and condominiums. Another 300,000 square feet is under construction at two sites in Florida.
Olenicoff made his fortune after his family fled Soviet Moscow and landed in America by way of Iran in 1957.
He’s had a long-running tax dispute with federal authorities over the size of his holdings. As a result he’s downplayed the extent of his wealth and his ownership of Olen. He now believes he is nearing a successful resolution of his tax case.
Daughter Natalia is playing a major role in the company after the untimely auto accident death of son Andrei in 2005.
7. Jim Jannard
Chairman, founder,
Oakley Inc.
Estimated worth: $1.6 billion
Oakley Inc. made Jim Jannard rich. Selling the Foothill Ranch-based maker of sunglasses and clothes stands to make him even richer.
In June, onetime rival Luxottica Group SPA of Italy offered $2.1 billion for Oakley in a deal set to close by year’s end.
Jannard’s 64% Oakley stake is worth $1.3 billion in the buyout. Add to that a rise in Oakley’s stock in the past year and prior stock sales, and our estimate of Jannard’s wealth is up $700 million from last year.
The decision to sell Oakley likely stems from changes at the company. Jannard has taken more of a backseat since Chief Executive Scott Olivet came on board in 2005.
Olivet is good at running things. Jannard rather would tinker. He’s dubbed a “mad scientist” obsessed with technology and designing.
And Oakley has evolved since Jannard started it with motorcycle handgrips in 1975 and named the company after his favorite dog breed, Oakley English Setters.
The biggest changes in the past year: a renewed focus on glasses and goggles, including the launch of women’s sunglasses, sports performance styles, the expansion of prescription frames as well as the continued growth of the company’s stores.
Jannard is expected to keep a hand in Oakley after the sale as “leader of the rogue state,” according to the company.
Oakley is built around the cult of Jannard. Employees regularly quote his phrases: “Be brave.” “Punish mediocrity.” “Design matters.”
Jannard said he plans to invest in Luxottica after the Oakley buy is finished. He signed a five-year non-competition pact.
A passion turned side venture is expected to grab more of Jannard’s time: Lake Forest-based Red Digital Cinema Camera Co., a digital, cinema-quality movie camera startup.
A photography buff, Jannard already spends spare time at Red, which hopes to sell directors and others on its camera as a cheaper, easy way to make movies with quality similar to film.
The camera, which is set to sell for $17,500, could be produced by the end of the year. The first models are set to ship in spring.
Another of his passions: drag racing. Jannard co-sponsors a funny car driven by Gary Scelzi. Oakley sponsors Nascar’s Bobby Labonte.
Jannard’s a recluse to the extreme and rarely grants interviews or photos. He splits his time between Orange County and Spieden Island, Wash., a getaway he bought in 1997 for $22 million. He’s divorced.
,Jennifer Bellantonio
8. WILLIAM GROSS
Cofounder, chief investment officer, managing director,
Pacific Investment Management Co.
Estimated worth: $1.2 billion
It hasn’t been a good year for bonds, but bonds have been good for Bill Gross for some three decades.
We’ve brought our estimate for Gross to $1.2 billion, versus $1.1 billion a year ago.
But that’s about all. Low interest rates in the U.S. and Europe have crimped bond returns, likely impacting Gross’ dividend payments.
For the past five years, his Total Return Fund has averaged yearly returns of less than 5%, according to investment research firm Morningstar Inc.
Still, Pacific Investment Manag-ement Co. continues to get bigger. A year ago, Pimco managed about $617 billion. Today it manages more than $700 billion for institutions and wealthy folks.
Gross’ leading role at Pimco has brought him a wide following as well as the title “King of Bonds.”
Before getting into bonds, Gross did a stint in the Navy where his job was to transport Navy Seals upriver in Vietnam. He also spent a few months as a professional blackjack player in Las Vegas.
In 1971, Gross co-founded Pimco as part of Pacific Mutual Life Insurance (now Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Insurance Co.) with $12 million under management. The bond fund manager set off on its own in 1994 as Pimco Advisors.
Pimco sold to German insurer Allianz AG in 2000 for $4.7 billion. Gross reportedly received $400 million in the deal.
Two years ago and again in May, Allianz renewed his contract at Pimco for undisclosed terms. In 2000, Gross’ five-year contract with Allianz was reportedly worth $40 million a year for five years.
Returns have been better of late for Gross in stamp collecting. He’s spent an estimated $50 million to $100 million on stamps.
Earlier this year, he raised $9.1 million for Doctors Without Borders, a charitable medical group, after selling stamps he bought for $2.5 million.
His other giving includes a $10 million gift to University of California, Irvine, for stem cell research, $20 million to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian for its women’s pavilion and $23.5 million to Duke University in Durham, N.C., for scholarships.
,Dan Beighley
9. Hadi Makarechian
Founder, chairman, chief executive, president,
Capital Pacific Holdings Inc.; chairman, Makar Properties LLC
9. Paul Makarechian
Chief executive, president,
Makar Properties LLC
Combined estimated worth: $1 billion
We’ve always known the Makarechians were rich. This year we were able to come up with an estimate we’re comfortable with: a combined $1 billion.
Hadi Makarechian runs homebuilder and developer Capital Pacific, best known for building coastal McMansions. The company, which builds in California and other Western states, counts yearly sales of nearly $700 million. It went private last year.
We’ve come up with our estimate for the value of Capital Pacific by looking at last year’s sale of Irvine-based John Laing Homes to Dubai’s Emaar Properties and last year’s privatization of Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes Inc.
Both homebuilders were valued at about $1 billion.
We then subtracted 30% to reflect a decline in homebuilder values since last summer and also allotted for debt and minority ownership.
Son Paul Makarechian is the owner and president of Makar Properties, a Capital Pacific offshoot that owns and develops land, condominiums, hotels and mixed-use projects.
The value of Makar’s holdings likely run in the range of several billion dollars, including sites in California, Florida and Texas.
The Makarechians’ stake, after debt and institutional investment, is likely in the hundreds of millions.
Our $1 billion estimate takes into account the values of both companies and a large number of projects in the works in Orange County and elsewhere.
Makar’s most notable holding is the five-star St. Regis Resort, Monarch Beach in Dana Point.
The company is under way with the biggest mixed-use development Huntington Beach has seen in some time. The 31-acre Pacific City project calls for a 200-room boutique hotel, 191,000 square feet of shops, restaurants and offices and more than 500 condos.
The first stage of the project should open next year.
In Dana Point, Makar is building luxury coastal homes, including Pointe Monarch at St. Regis.
Another Capital Pacific unit, NDC Development, earlier this year received approval from Santa Ana to build two 20-plus story condo high-rises on a 200-acre parcel between the Santa Ana and Costa Mesa freeways.
In Colorado, Makar and Capital Pacific are overseeing the masterplanned development of 75,000 homes and 60 million square feet of office, shopping and industrial space. The project is set to be built in the next few decades on Banning Ranch, a 23,000-acre site near Colorado Springs.
In Texas, Makar plans to build 1,900 homes and nearly 400,000 square feet of shopping at a development outside Austin called WatersEdge.
Makar has been buying along with building. It paid $42 million for the Wyndham Orange County Hotel last year and renovated it. Plans call for adding a condo tower.
Earlier this year, Makar paid an estimated $160 million for the Hilton Anaheim, the largest hotel in the county. Upgrades and renovations worth about $50 million are planned.
,Mark Mueller
10. William Lyon
Chairman,
chief executive,
William Lyon Homes Inc.
Estimated worth: $975 million
The downturn in homebuilding led us to lower our estimate for William Lyon from $1 billion a year ago.
Newport Beach-based homebuilder William Lyon Homes Inc. is a key source of Lyon’s wealth.
Last summer, Lyon bought out the rest of the company he didn’t already own for about $275 million. The deal valued William Lyon Homes at about $950 million.
Like other homebuilders, William Lyon Homes is worth less this year amid a weak housing market. For the second quarter, the company reported orders for new homes were down 11% from a year earlier.
Cushioning the homebuilding downturn for Lyon are some 10,000 apartments. With the apartments and other investments, Lyon could well be worth more than $1 billion. As with just about everyone on our list, our estimate is conservative.
Referred to as “the general,” 83-year-old Lyon commanded the Air Force Reserve before retiring in 1978. He flew 75 combat missions in Korea.
Lyon started building houses more than 50 years ago for military personnel and others moving to California.
These days, Lyon is grooming 33-year-old son Bill H. Lyon to take over William Lyon Homes. Earlier this year, the younger Lyon was promoted to executive vice president.
He was tapped over six other vice presidents, in a sign of succession. Lyon has said that bolstering his son’s role was a key reason for going private. The younger Lyon has been with the company for nine years.
Gen. Lyon is one of the nation’s premier collectors of classic cars. His collection is worth $200 million by some estimates.
Lyon also is active in philanthropy and Republican politics.
11. DAVID SUN
Cofounder, chief operating officer,
Kingston Technology Co.
Estimated worth: $900 million
11. JOHN TU
Cofounder, president,
Two decades ago, Chinese immigrants David Sun and John Tu were toiling away at their fledgling memory products company, Kingston Technology Co. in Fountain Valley.
Back then, it was a tiny outfit with two workers and $120,000 in annual sales.
A series of milestones have flown by: Kingston broke the $1 billion sales mark in 1995, saw $2 billion in 2004 and reached $3 billion in 2005.
Today, Kingston is the top maker of memory products with about 900 local workers and $3.7 billion in yearly sales.
“Our 20 years of success with Kingston is living proof of the American Dream,” Tu said at a January awards ceremony where the duo was honored by Inc. magazine.
Kingston’s growth of late has come from sales of flash memory for digital cameras and mobile phones.
Flash, which commands higher profits, is expected to make up about $1 billion of Kingston’s sales in the next two years.
In memory boards,circuit boards with memory chips that go into computers and networking gear,Kingston is the 800-pound-gorilla with about 20% of the market.
But Kingston faces tough going this year. Sales and profits are down with a steep fall in prices for memory chips, which squeezes memory products makers.
The first two quarters of this year alone saw prices for memory chips fall by about 25%.
As a result, Kingston’s value likely has fallen this year.
Still, we’ve upped our estimates for Sun and Tu from $850 million apiece a year ago based on better accounting by looking at a pair of publicly traded rivals, Fremont-based Smart Modular Technologies Inc. and Santa Ana’s STEC Inc.
Fortune came to Tu and Sun after building up Kingston and then selling 80% of the company to Japan’s Softbank Corp. for $1.5 billion in 1996. Three years later, they bought it back for a fraction of what they were paid.
Both men are humble and like to keep low profiles. They’ve requested not to be on the Business Journal’s list.
They’re surrounded by supporters at Kingston. The two made headlines when they handed out $100 million in bonuses to workers after selling the company to Softbank.
Both men are on their second fortunes, having founded memory products maker Camintonn in the 1980s and selling it to onetime computer maker AST Research Inc. They left AST to start Kingston after losing millions in Camintonn proceeds in the 1987 stock market crash.
Sun and Tu have electrical engineering degrees,Tu from Technische Hochschule Darmstadt in Germany, Sun from Taiwan’s Ta-Tung Institute of Technology. Tu, originally from China, moved to the U.S. in 1972. Sun, who was born in Taiwan, came in 1977.
,Sarah Tolkoff
13. Anne Catherine Getty Earhart
Heiress to J. Paul Getty;
president, Marisla Foundation
Estimated worth: $850 million
13. Caroline Getty
executive committee member,
The Wilderness Society
Anne Catherine Getty Earhart and sister Caroline Getty are heiresses of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty who’ve made names for themselves supporting environmental and Democratic causes.
The Getty sisters are two of the nation’s richest women and are among 16 grandchildren of the autocratic billionaire. We estimate their worth at $850 million each.
The Getty sisters are private and keep low profiles.
Earhart is a 54-year-old Corona del Mar resident. She heads Laguna Beach’s Marisla Foundation, formerly known as the Homeland Foundation of Laguna Beach, which unsuccessfully fought the San Joaquin Hills (73) Toll Road in 1992.
Last year, Earhart gave $500,000 to Yes on Proposition 84, the Californians for Clean Water, Parks and Coastal Protection, and $50,000 to No on Proposition 85, which opposed restrictions on teen abortions.
Earhart also gave $95,000 to Planning 2020 Inc. in Monterey, which worked with Irvine Councilman Larry Agran’s Hometown Voter Guide and Measure M, the half-cent sales tax to build roads.
Getty, 49, also is an environmental activist. She gave $1 million to the Nature Conservancy in support of two California parks bonds in 2000 and 2002.
She’s a member of the governing council of The Wilderness Society and has served on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund and the National Fish and Wildlife Organization.
The sisters’ wealth comes from J. Paul Getty, who struck oil in 1953 and founded Getty Oil Co. in 1956. He started the original Getty Museum art collection and endowed the J. Paul Getty Trust, which funds the Los Angeles museum. He died in 1976.
After a nine-year battle over Getty’s will, a 1985 settlement gave Earhart, Caroline Getty and one other daughter of his late son George Franklin Getty II $750 million to share.
The family sold part of Getty Oil to what’s now Chevron Corp. for $10 billion in 1986. Caroline Getty and Earhart got an additional $400 million each from the sale.
,Jessica C. Lee
15. Paul Merage
Chairman, Falcon Investment Group LLC;
president, Merage Foundations;
chair, dean’s advisory board, Paul Merage School of Business
Estimated worth:
$650 million
Paul Merage forever will be known as inventor of snack food Hot Pockets. But these days philanthropy is his passion.
“He’s an astute business man, but he’s also a visionary philanthropist who cares about America and the world,” said Marshall Kaplan, friend and executive director of Merage’s foundations.
In recent years, Merage’s foundations have handed out grants to a handful of community groups. Last June, he awarded $20,000 stipends to 14 immigrant college graduates.
Merage spends a lot of time promoting education and the cultural awareness of immigrants and their contributions, according to Kaplan.
In the early 1960s, Merage emigrated from Iran. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1977, Merage started Colorado-based Chef America Inc. with brother David. The company made frozen Belgian-style waffles and sold them to schools and coffee shops. Then they started making their signature Hot Pockets, frozen dumplings stuffed with sandwich fillings.
Merage and his brother sold Chef America for $2.6 billion to Nestl & #233; SA in 2002.
We estimate Merage’s wealth at more than $650 million based on the sale.
After selling Chef America, Merage sold his $12 million estate in Cherry Hills Village near Denver and moved to Orange County to spend time with his family and work on philanthropy.
Merage is probably best known locally for his $30 million donation in 2005 to the University of California, Irvine’s business school, which now is named after him.
One of his foundations is American Dream, which seeks to help immigrants. His Children First foundation recruits skilled retirees for jobs in early childhood development programs. The other part of Children First is to fund educational programs through Social Security donations of wealthy retirees.
An Iranian Jew, Merage’s other foundation, U.S.-Israel Trade, seeks to promote business ties between the countries. Each year it sends groups of 15 Israeli executives on 10-day trips to OC for a crash course in U.S. business.
Merage is a family man. He has three grown children and is married to Lilly, who’s active in the foundations. He enjoys playing tennis and music, including classical and jazz. He also collects art.
16. VINCENT SMITH
Quest Software Inc.
$575 million
A year ago, Vinny Smith saw his estimated wealth fall as issues with stock options hurt shares of Aliso Viejo’s Quest Software Inc.
A year later, Wall Street seems to be betting that’s all water under the bridge as Quest’s stock has made a rebound.
Shares are up about 30% from their low last summer with a recent market value of $1.5 billion. Smith owns about 32 million shares, a 32% stake.
We’ve valued Smith at $575 million based on his Quest shares, past stock sales and other investments. That’s up from an estimated $425 million last year.
Smith’s wealth could change next year. He’s going through a divorce that was filed in late 2005 but doesn’t appear to be settled yet, according to court records.
Like Broadcom Corp.’s cofounders, Smith is working through issues related to the dating of stock options grants at Quest.
Quest, which makes software to monitor the performance of databases and other applications, said it plans to restate results from 2000 on as part of an internal probe. It’s lagged other companies in resolving the issue and getting up to date on filings.
The company said it expects to take charges of about $150 million related to the probe.
Meanwhile, Smith has been expanding Quest.
In June, the company bought privately held ScriptLogic Corp. of Florida for about $90 million in cash to help grow its small and midsize business customers. It also stepped up its sales force to expand deeper into Canada.
Smith is a low-key multimillionaire who goes by Vinny and often sports jeans and a cap.
Years ago, Smith was given an action figure made in his likeness, complete with his favorite accessories, a surfboard, laptop and cell phone. The price for a mini Vinny? $600.
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 Corp. after graduating from the University of Delaware in 1986. In 1992, he started San Francisco-based Patrol Software with an Oracle colleague. BMC Software Inc. bought Patrol in 1994.
His interest in Quest grew through an investment his Insight Capital Partners made in 1995. He took a seat on the company’s board and gradually became more involved, becoming chief executive in 1997 and chairman a year later.
16. JANIE TSAO
Senior vice president, Cisco Systems Inc.
16. VICTOR TSAO
Senior vice president, Cisco Systems Inc.; general partner, cofounder, Miven Venture Partners
Combined estimated worth: $575 million
Janie and Victor Tsao are getting back to their roots in China.
A year ago, the Tsaos stepped down from running Linksys, a maker of consumer networking gear that Cisco bought for $500 million in 2003.
Now they are working on investments and business development for Cisco in China,mainly making deals with suppliers and developing technologies, according to Linksys spokeswoman Karen Sohl.
They spend about half of their time in China, going back and forth between apartments in Beijing, Shanghai and their Newport Coast home.
The gig has allowed them to keep an eye on their sons. Last year, 22-year-old son Michael attended the University of Beijing on a foreign exchange program. He’s now back at the University of California, Irvine. Their other son, Michael, 24, now is working in Beijing.
We’ve upped our estimate for the Tsaos to $575 million, based on presumed gains in their investments. The couple is believed to have diversified out of most Cisco shares, though anything they do have would have seen gains in the past year.
The Tsaos are known for their straightforward approach and tireless work ethic. For years, Victor put in 100-hour weeks.
Today Linksys has estimated yearly sales of $1 billion and makes products that link entire computer networks together wirelessly. The company has about half of the market for home and smaller business networking.
The Tsaos shy away from talk of their wealth. They lived in a modest house in Irvine’s Woodbridge for years as they grew Linksys. Only when Linksys began to take off did they splurge on a house in Newport Coast.
Janie Tsao told Inc. magazine in 2004: “If there’s a contest for the most boring couple in Orange County, I think Victor and I would win.”
The two are from a rural area of northern China and met at Tamkang University in Taiwan.
,Sarah Tolkoff
18. HOWARD AHMANSON JR.
Heir, philanthropist
Estimated worth: $560 million
Howard Ahmanson is the heir to the Home Savings & Loan fortune.
For the most part, Ahmanson lives a private life using his money for philanthropy and to advance his deeply held religious beliefs.
He makes occasional headlines for his noted opposition to same sex marriage and his deep evangelical ties.
He’s at the forefront of intelligent design theory, which challenges Charles Darwin’s theories. Like most evangelicals, he opposes gays and lesbians playing leading roles in the church.
Ahmanson’s critics have deemed him as a right-wing fanatic. Those who know him say he has deep religious convictions but describe him as more complex.
“He doesn’t exist in his religious bubble,” one longtime friend said.
Those who know Ahmanson point to his giving to AIDS hospices and to the Pacific Symphony Orchestra for its Frieda Belinfante Class Act program to bring music into schools. Belinfante was a lesbian.
Ahmanson’s described as “off the charts brilliant” and “incredibly well read.” He seeks out different points of view and promotes free speech for all sides of an argument, according to a source.
He founded the Center for Local Government with the Claremont Institute to advance various opinions on issues of redevelopment and local government reform.
While Ahmanson surfaces with his giving, he’s intensely private. A rare glimpse of his life came in a detailed Orange County Register story in 2004.
Ahmanson, who lives in Newport Beach with wife Roberta, a former religion writer for the Orange County Register, suffers from Tourette Syndrome, a neurological disorder that brings involuntary body movements and repetitive and compulsive thoughts.
His father, Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson Sr., got his start foreclosing on properties during the Depression. He bought Home Savings in 1947 for $162,000.
By the time the elder Ahmanson died, the thrift had assets of $2.5 billion. He spent much of his later years as a philanthropist, creating the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles and the Ahmanson Gallery of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
When Ahmanson died, his estate was split between the Ahmanson Foundation and Howard Ahmanson Jr. Today, the foundation has assets of some $700 million. We’ve based our estimate of Howard Ahmanson Jr.’s wealth on that, factoring in money he’s given away.
Ahmanson probably is richer than we figure. He likely has investments that have appreciated in recent years. But we can’t tell.
In late 2006, he and Roberta closed the Hotel Pattee in rural Perry, Iowa, where Roberta grew up. The couple spent $10 million to renovate the hotel, which they owned for 10 years but lost money on.
,Sherri Cruz
19. Anthony Maglica
Owner, founder, president, Mag Instrument Inc.
Estimated worth: $550 million
Anthony Maglica may be 76 but he still lights up with ideas.
Maglica heads Ontario-based Mag Instrument Inc., maker of durable flashlights used by police officers and everyday folks alike.
For Maglica, designing products is a creative outlet: “It’s fun doing it,” he said.
The company operates out of an 800,000-square-foot plant in Ontario and counts about 900 workers. Maglica, who lives in Anaheim Hills, said he has no plans to take the company public.
Selling isn’t an option either, though Maglica said he’s had offers.
Two of his sons work at Mag. They are likely candidates to take over the business.
Maglica (pronounced mag-lee-cuh) is known for his inventions. In July, he received another patent to add to the company’s long line of flashlight innovations.
He aggressively fights to protect his patents. Maglica calls it a cost of staying in business.
Mag’s products have spurred numerous imitations and hundreds of lawsuits.
In 2005, Mag settled a case against Dollar Tree Stores Inc., which sold what the court deemed an infringing flashlight.
Maglica was born in New York and grew up on the island of Zlarin in Croatia. 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.
He worked as a machinist and saved $125 to buy a lathe and start his own machine tool business. Maglica made parts for aerospace and defense contractors, earning a reputation for quality.
He started Mag Instrument Inc. 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 were in a high-profile palimony case.
,Jessica C. Lee
20. DUANE ROBERTS
Chairman, chief executive,
Entrepreneurial Corporate Group
Estimated worth: $500 million
Duane Roberts has a diverse empire.
He just opened Las Campanas Mexican Cuisine & Cantina, a lavish restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga that serves filet mignon tacos.
He’s owner of Riverside’s landmark Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, which he saved from demolition 15 some years ago.
He owns thousands of apartments and some British food companies.
Roberts has spread the wealth. He’s building a Humane Society in Riverside and he has given “seven figures” to Pepperdine University, where his stepdaughter goes to school.
We’ve based our estimate of Roberts’ worth largely on his ownership of 13,500 apartments in the Southwest. We also factored in the Mission Inn and the British food makers he owns. Roberts easily could be worth more than $500 million.
He lives in Laguna Beach and manages his investments from Newport Beach-based Entrepreneurial Corporate Group. But he’ll tell you his heart is in Riverside, where he grew up.
In 1950, dad Harry Roberts started Butcher Boy Food Products Inc., a meat company that was the main supplier of patties to McDonald’s in Southern California. Butcher Boy supplied most of the fast food industry during its early days.
Roberts dropped out of college to help his dad. While working at Butcher Boy, 19-year-old Roberts came up with what he bills as the first frozen burrito.
At 27, Roberts became president and built Butcher Boy from one plant with 60 workers and $3 million in yearly sales to six plants with 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.
Roberts stayed on as Butcher Boy’s chairman for about two years after the sale. The company later became part of Tyson Foods Inc. before being sold to a private equity group.
He 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 a big Republican backer. Mission Inn guests have included President George Bush and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
,Sherri Cruz
20. Michael Harrah
Owner, president,
Caribou Industries Inc.
Estimated worth: $500 million
Big Mike is waiting to make his biggest move yet.
A 37-story office tower planned for the heart of Santa Ana has been pushed back a couple times and doesn’t have tenants lined up since being approved by voters in early 2005.
Construction is set to start in January, according to Harrah. He said he’s in talks with three tenants.
The ambitious tower aside, Michael Harrah is far and away Santa Ana’s biggest landlord. He owns close to 4 million square feet of commercial space in downtown Santa Ana and around the Civic Center. Holdings include nearly 50 office buildings, stores, restaurants and a concert hall, the OC Pavilion, which Harrah designed and built himself.
Harrah’s other big project is in Hawaii. He’s working on The Pinnacle Honolulu, a 40-story condominium tower in downtown that’s sold out.
We value Harrah at $500 million, based on his Santa Ana and Hawaii real estate. We’ve considered land and approvals for the One Broadway Plaza project. We also included Caribou Industries Inc., Harrah’s development, construction, and property management firm.
With a ZZ Top beard, Harrah’s something of an eccentric. He stands 6 feet, 6 inches tall, weighing 280 pounds. He has piloted his Cobra helicopter in aerial stunts in “Austin Powers: Gold Member,” “The Hulk” and “The Siege.” He also owns his own jet, which was grounded in Fiji during a military coup last November.
Harrah is the designer, builder and contractor for the campus of the Orange County High School of the Arts, which he has given more than $2 million to. He also supports the Boys and Girls Club, D.A.R.E and was awarded the top honor of Making a Difference for the Child Abuse Prevention Center of Orange County 2007.
,Mark Mueller
22. Maurice McAlister
Chairman, cofounder,
Downey Financial Corp.
Estimated worth: $375 million
Maurice McAlister has been a longtime finance fixture in Orange County.
He started Newport Beach-based Downey Financial Corp. in 1957 with the late Gerald H. McQuarrie.
Downey got its start lending to small, neighborhood shopping centers, many centered around a supermarket or drug store.
Today Downey largely does home loans.
As 20% owner of Downey, McAlister’s wealth is off from a year ago, when we valued him at $400 million. But Downey’s shares, down about 15% from a year ago, have held up better than others in the industry amid the mortgage downturn.
Still, Downey’s most recent quarterly report showed earnings were down more than 30% from a year ago as loans grow less profitable.
The thrift long has been considered a takeover target. Comparisons have been made to Oakland-based Golden West Financial Corp., which was acquired by Wachovia Corp. in 2006.
As a founder of Downey, McAlister is paid $500,000 a year. The payments, or a payout, are guaranteed if Downey is sold.
A resident of Bullhead, Ariz., McAlister comes to OC once month or so for board meetings and regular visits to Downey’s Back Bay headquarters.
McAlister also has investments throughout Arizona and California.
,Dan Beighley
23. James Downey
Cofounder, former chief executive,
C & D; Aerospace;
owner, Wave Equity Partners LLC
Estimated worth: $350 million
Jim Downey cashed out in a wave of aerospace consolidation a couple of years ago.
He was the major beneficiary when Huntington Beach’s C & D; Aerospace was sold for $600 million to France’s Zodiac SA in 2005. Downey cofounded the company, which now goes by C & D; Zodiac. A native of Ottawa, Ill. (population 18,500), Downey started C & D; in 1972 with childhood friend Toby Crowley.
The company makes commercial and military aircraft cabin fixtures, including overhead bins cabin lighting and reinforced cockpit doors. We estimate the sale brought Downey about $350 million after factoring in other owners and debt.
Downey now runs investment firm Wave Equity Partners LLC in Newport Beach. The firm has invested about $35,000 in projects in Downey’s hometown of Ottawa.
Since the sale, Downey has established the Downey-Short Foundation that supports patients undergoing cancer treatment, and the James E Downey Foundation, providing scholarships to some 50 college students in Orange County and Illinois.
,Dan Beighley
23. Ronald Simon
Founder, chairman, chief executive,
RSI Holding Corp.
Estimated wealth: $350 million
Ron Simon’s wealth comes from making cabinets.
He’s founder and owner of RSI Holdings Corp., a Newport Beach-based cabinet maker that sells to homebuilders and big home improvement stores.
Yearly sales of RSI are estimated at $600 million. Our estimate for Simon comes from comparing the company to Virginia’s American Woodmark Corp., a publicly traded rival.
American Woodmark’s shares are down about 10% in the past year amid the housing and refinancing downturn. But we’ve opted to keep our estimate of Simon unchanged since it’s likely low.
Simon’s mother was a Russian immigrant and his father was Canadian. They raised him in East Los Angeles.
His first jobs were delivering papers and raising pigeons, according to a profile on the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans Inc. Web site. Simon won the Horatio Alger award in 2005.
He got his start in the cabinet business in the 1960s when he took over Perma-Bilt Industries, a Los Angeles-based company run by his family.
Simon grew Perma-Bilt to be the largest maker of medicine cabinets, vanities and marble countertops. In 1987, he sold it to an Australian company.
He served on Perma-Bilt’s board for a while but left after his plans to change manufacturing to compete with China were rejected.
At the age of 55, Simon started RSI with the strategy rejected by Perma-Bilt, which no longer exists.
Simon has been a backer of the Republican Party, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He also has the Ronald M. Simon Family Foundation, which gives to needy students in Santa Ana, Georgia and New Mexico. He also gives to the Orange County Community Foundation.
,Dan Beighley
24. Bruce Elieff
Principal, chief executive, president,
SunCal Cos.
Estimated worth: $300 million
Real estate developer Bruce Elieff debuts this year with an estimate that could be one of the most conservative on our list.
Media-shy Elieff runs Irvine-based SunCal Cos., one of the country’s largest privately held developers.
The company, which plans housing projects and then sells land to homebuilders and retail developers, is said to have $4 billion in assets.
The company is one of the largest developers in the West and also has offices in Texas, Florida and the Washington, D.C. area.
Figuring institutional investors likely own up to three-quarters of the land held by SunCal, Elieff’s stake could be as much as $1 billion.
He and brother Steve appear to be the key players in the company started by their father Boris Elieff.
But we’re not entirely sure about the family company’s ownership. Hence the conservative estimate.
SunCal has developed more than 250,000 lots and has big plans to develop in California, Arizona and Nevada.
In New Mexico, SunCal plans to redevelop 55,000 acres of historical land.
One of SunCal’s biggest local projects was Amerige Heights in Fullerton, a housing and shopping center project on former Hughes Aircraft Co. campus land that wrapped up earlier this decade.
Elieff and SunCal have gained attention this year with plans to develop 27 acres in Anaheim with 1,500 homes. Walt Disney Co. opposes the bid, which would put homes close to its two Anaheim parks and a planned third one. The issue could come down to a public vote.
SunCal also owns the Marblehead Coastal development in San Clemente and Pacifica San Juan in San Juan Capistrano.
In Alameda, the company has 770 acres to redevelop where the former Oak Knoll Naval Hospital stands.
Last year Elieff outbid Donald Trump for 2.25 acres in Century City, paying one of the highest prices ever in Los Angeles at $1,124 a foot. The company plans to develop luxury condominimums.
Elieff’s father, a European immigrant, founded the company more than 70 years ago. He joined in 1977 and took over upon dad’s death in 1990.
Elieff has a bachelor’s in business administration with an emphasis on real estate and finance from California State University, Los Angeles.
,Dan Beighley
25. Joan Irvine Smith
Heiress to James Irvine
Estimated worth: $300 million
Longtime environmentalist and philanthropist Joan Irvine Smith is one of four women on the Business Journal’s list of the wealthiest here.
Smith, one of the earliest advocates of the University of California, Irvine, continued her longtime support in the past year by giving $1 million for a law library at the university, which hopes to start a law school.
Smith played a role in The Irvine Company’s donation of 1,000 acres of land to the University of California Board of Regents, which eventually became UC Irvine.
We estimate Smith’s wealth at $300 million, based on input from sources.
Her wealth comes from James Irvine, her great-grandfather who struck it rich during the Gold Rush of 1849. Irvine and three partners bought 120,000 acres of land, which was about a quarter of Orange County at that time.
James Irvine II, Smith’s grandfather, incorporated the land as Irvine Land Co. in the 1890s.
She’s working on a book to be published next spring that includes history of the Irvine Ranch and art-related information.
Fifteen years ago, Donald Bren bought out Smith and mother Athalie R. Clarke for $256 million after a court battle.
Smith has said that she and Bren are on cordial terms and that she’s told him “he has a great legacy he can leave,open space.”
Smith, through her Capistrano Valley Conservancy, has joined with Bren and the Irvine Land Trust to work on some projects, including a charity art competition and sale earlier this year that raised some $300,000.
Besides the environment, Smith’s other passions include the arts and horses. Smith breeds, trains and sells world-class jumping horses at her farms in San Juan Capistrano, northern San Diego County and Middleburg, Va.
She gave $1 million toward UCI’s Reeve-Irvine Research Center when she learned that the late Christopher Reeve didn’t blame his horse for the accident that left him paralyzed.
,Vita Reed
