FORMER CHAIRMAN, CEO, ALLERGAN
WHY: Founding father of OC’s aesthetic, ophthalmic and drugmaking industries. Joined father’s eyecare-focused pharma firm in the 1950s. Botox “started as something we thought might do … $10 million.”
RECENT: Botox generated an estimated $3.8B in sales for Allergan in 2019. Chicago-based AbbVie bought Allergan for nearly $63B in deal closing this year; Allergan Aesthetics unit headquartered in Irvine.
NOTABLE: Established Herbert Gavin Eye Institute at UC Irvine Health. With his wife, Ninetta, has backed eye research for decades with millions of dollars.
FUN FACTS: Purchased Roger’s Gardens in 1970. A few years later, Roger’s Gardens acquired the “Original Disneyland Bandstand” gazebo from Disneyland and moved it to the gardens in Corona del Mar.
