The 10 Richest People in Ohio
A total of nine billionaires on this year’s list of the richest people are from Ohio. At the top of the list is Les Wexner, the CEO and founder of L Brands, who is estimated to have a net worth of $5.8 billion. Wexner helped build the FirstEnergy Stadium, where the Cleveland Browns play.
According to Cleveland, America’s wealthiest billionaires are mostly found within industries such as; technology, investments, and finance.
Other wealthy industrial sectors include; media and entertainment, food and drink, and fashion and retail. In order to accurately determine who the richest Americans are and how they amassed such wealth, here is our list of the ten richest people in Ohio.
10. John H. McConnell Net Worth – $700 million
John Henderson McConnell, who passed on 25th April 2008, was the CEO and founder of Worthington Industries. The company mainly deals with manufacturing processed pressure cylinders, metal framing, and steel products.
He was also the majority shareholder, governor, chairman, and founder of the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL team. During World War II, McConnell served in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. In 1949, he attained a degree in Business Administration from Michigan State University.
He later founded Worthington Industries in 1955 as a young steel salesperson. He served as the company’s chairman and board of directors until 1996 and 2002, respectively. His son, John P. McConnell, succeeded his father as the CEO of Worthington Industries in 1993.
John Henderson has been awarded several awards and other recognition throughout his career, including the Horatio Alger Award, the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Year Award by Industry Week and Financial World magazines.
He was also inducted into the Columbus Hall of Fame, the Junior Achievement National Business Hall of Fame, and the Central Ohio Business Hall of Fame. According to Celebritynetworth, John Henderson McConnell donated over $15 million to help develop the McConnell Heart Health Center at Riverside Methodist Hospital. He also aided in developing the Peggy R. McConnell Arts Center, a community arts center named after his late wife.
9. Nancy Lerner Net Worth – $1.1 billion
Nancy Lerner Fisher is an American philanthropist, entrepreneur, and billionaire. She is the daughter of Al Lerner and Norma. Lerner and her only brother Randy Lerner were raised in a Jewish family.
She was enrolled at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, earning her J.D. and a B.A from the University of Cincinnati. Nancy’s father (Al Lerner) was the founder and CEO of the MBNA Corporation, the second largest provider of credit cards around the globe. Al began his career as a furniture salesperson and later invested in Cleveland-area real estate and gained control of Equitable Bancorp in 1981.
Equitable Bancorp and Maryland National formed a merger that led to the creation of a prominent credit card provider MBNA. When her father passed away, Nancy and her brother Randy inherited their father’s riches.
She then initiated the Partnership for Families program, which assists couples who cannot afford the In Vitro Fertilization procedure. Nancy has been married three times to Michael Carosielli, William Beck, and now Elliot Fisher. The 62-year-old billionaire has five children; her daughter Emma Beck lost her life in a go-kart accident in 2006.
8. Norma Lerner Net Worth – $1.1 billion
Norma Lerner is an American billionaire and the widow of Alfred Lerner, who was the founder and CEO of the credit card company MBNA. She married Al Lerner in 1955 and had two children, Nancy Lerner and Randy Lerner. Between 2006 and 2011, she was a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and part of its executive committee.
According to Stacker, Norma Lerner is the president and chair of the Lerner Foundation, co-founder of the Lerner Research Institute, director of the Cleveland Clinic, and founder of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. In 1955, she was married to Al Lerner and was married for 47 years.
7. Randy Lerner Net Worth – $1.1 billion
Randolph David Lerner is an American billionaire entrepreneur and former sports-team owner. He was named the majority owner of the American football team, the Cleveland Browns, who play in the National Football League.
After his father’s death, Alfred (Al) Lerner, in October 2002, inherited part of his father’s riches. He sold the Cleveland Browns team in August 2012 and later became the chairman and owner of Aston Villa F.C., an English club playing in the English Premier League. Randy sold the club at a loss in 2016 following their relegation from the EPL.
According to Fox8, he graduated from Columbia Law School in 1984 and is a member of the New York and District of Columbia bar associations. Lerner began his working career as an investment analyst at automobile insurers Progressive Corporation.
In 1991, he established an independent investment company with Progressive capital known as Securities Advisors, Inc. (SAI), which he managed until 2001. His father, Alfred, appointed him as the chairman of the MBNA Corporation after investing $800 million in the firm’s Initial Public Offering (IPO). In 1993, he was named the director of MBNA Company.
6. August Troendle Net Worth – $1.5 billion
August Troendle is the CEO and president of Medspace, a clinical research company established in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1992. Medspace also conducts clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies seeking to advertise vaccines, drugs, or medical devices to the market.
Before launching Medspace Company, August spent five years as a director at a Swiss pharmaceutical company called Novartis. Between the years 1986 to 1987, he was briefly employed as a medical review officer at the FDA’s division of metabolic and endocrine drug products.
Troendle is also a doctor with an M.D. from the University of Maryland and has served on several private and public healthcare companies.
5. Catherine Lozick Net Worth – $2.1 billion
Catherine Lozick is an American billionaire and the daughter of industrialist Fred Lennon, co-owner of Swagelok. In 1948, Lennon became the firm’s sole owner after buying his partner’s stake for $2,000.
By the 1990s, Swagelok was already transformed into a billion-dollar company. Fred Lennon passed away in 1998 and left $25 million for his son John Lennon, his grandchildren $50,000, and the lion’s share of his riches to his daughter Catherine Lozick.
Lozick was to inherit the entire real estate, which caused a lot of conflict in the family and resulted in the file their claims in court. The case was later settled, and Catherine agreed to pay each of the grandchildren an additional $1.25 million. Nevertheless, Catherine Lozick remains the majority owner of her father’s wealth.
4. Clayton Mathile Net Worth – $2.3 billion
Clayton Lee Mathile is an American billionaire investor. He is best known for leading the Lams Food Company to nearly $1 billion in product sales before selling it to Procter & Gamble for $2.3 billion.
At the time, this was the largest cash-only deal in P&G’s history. Clayton is the oldest child of Wilbert “Bill” Ray Mathile and Helen Good Mathile. Lee graduated at the age of 16 from Portage High School, ranking first in his class.
He enrolled at the Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio, where he played on the school’s basketball team. Before he graduated with a business degree in February 1962, Mathile had studied mechanical engineering.
He began his career as an accountant at a General Motors manufacturing plant in Toledo, Ohio. One year later, he was employed at the Campbell Soup Company, where he worked for seven years and held several positions, such as inventory control, purchasing, and cost accounting.
In 1970, Clayton was hired at The Lams Food Company in Dayton, Ohio. In 1975, when shortages of ingredients almost led to the company’s collapse, Mathile bought a 50% ownership interest in the firm from Paul Lams, the founder and owner.
During his early tenure, Clayton oversaw the company’s rapid growth and later purchased the remaining shares from the owner in 1982, becoming the sole CEO and owner.
3. George Gund III Net Worth – $3.4 billion
George Gund III was an American sports entrepreneur and businessman. He is the son of George Gund II and Jessica Laidlaw Roesler. After dropping out of high school, George joined the United States Marines in 1955 at eighteen.
After serving in the military, he was enrolled at Menlo College in Atherton, California, but did not graduate. He instead decided to sell Eastern European films by distributing them around the state.
Gund III was very dedicated to the world of sports and has been appointed in several duties, such as chairman of the Minnesota North Stars, president of the Cleveland Barons, and partners with the San Jose Sharks and California Golden Seals. He was also a member of the International Council of USA Hockey and a trustee of the USA Hockey Foundation.
In April 1983, Gund and his younger brother Gordon bought the majority of Cleveland Cavaliers’ shares for approximately $20 million. The National Basketball Association Board approved this transaction of Governors.
While he married Lara Lee, George helped produce many of her movie films, including Modulations, Cultures of Resistance, and Synthetic Pleasures. He was later named the President of Caipirinha Productions, which produces Lee’s movies, and founded the Lara Lee and George Gund III Foundation. Even after his death on 15th January 2013, at 75, George Gund III is remembered as one of the most powerful bankers in the state.
2. Denise York – $4.0 billion
Marie Denise DeBartolo York is an American billionaire businesswoman who is the co-chair and owner of the San Francisco 49ers American football team. She is the daughter of the late Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. and Marie Patricia Montani DeBartolo.
Her family was very prominent in the real estate development sector. Marie was enrolled at Saint Mary’s College of Indiana, a Catholic women’s college near the University of Notre Dame.
After graduating, she joined The DeBartolo Corporation and was appointed executive vice president. Following her father’s demise in 1994, she became the company’s co-chairman, and approximately 78 DeBartolo malls were sold.
Denise is also the president and owner of the National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins, making her the third woman in history to serve as the president of a Stanley Cup-winning club.
After presiding over the club during the 1990-91 championship season, she sold the team to assist the DeBartolo Corporation, which faced challenges due to the real estate collapse in 1987.
Denise York became the manager of the 49ers in 1999 after his brother was convicted. On May 2018, the York family, via 49ers Enterprises, bought shares in the English Premier League club Leeds United to become a minority investor.
1. Les Wexner Net Worth – $5.8 billion
Leslie Herbert Wexner is an American billionaire investor, chairman, and founder of Bath & Body Works, Inc., formerly Limited Brands. Wexner began his retail career working in his parent’s clothing store known as “Leslie’s.”
After leaving law school, his parents asked him to look after the store when they went on their first vacation in one decade. While his parents were away, he analyzed the profit and loss margins on the women’s garments in the store and realized that higher-priced clothes were sold less frequently, which led to lower profits. He then came up with solutions to help increase the profits in their shop.
In 1963, Wexner started his new business known as The Limited, a store that mainly focused on selling moderately priced products such as shirts, skirts, and sweaters.
Leslie opened the second Limited store in 1964 and continued to expand his business by opening several branches. By the late 1970s, Wexner had already opened the 100th Limited store and later expanded his holdings to include partners such as; Bath & Body Works, Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Express Inc. In his efforts to have a business advantage over his competitors, Les purchased Mast Industries, a major manufacturer and importer.
According to iheart, Les Wexner is the richest person in Ohio with an estimated net worth of $5.8 billion.
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