Eli Broad Net Worth & Biography

American business magnate Eli Broad was best known in the American business sphere as the founder of the insurance corporation SunAmerica, and the home building firm, KB Home. His achievement with these two separate ventures has made him the only person in history to build two Fortune 500 companies in different industries. Popular for his unconventional ways of steering business, Mr. Broad has cultivated a profile for being “completely unreasonable” and he credited his unreasonable ways for his extraordinary success which he believed he would never have achieved had he stuck with the conventional ways in business. Born to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants in the United States, Broad was raised in a middle-class home. In spite of his modest background, he harbored striving dreams from a young age. He was a brilliant child who after graduating from Detroit Central High School went on to attend Michigan State University where he studied accountancy and economics. There was a lot he had to prove to himself and his family so instead of complaining and conceding defeat to life, he had to work hard to provide for himself during his school days and worked different odd jobs to make ends meet. After working some years he decided to focus on developing himself, so he teamed up with a relative to open his own business called KB Home which proved to be highly fruitful. Seeing the success of his first business, Broad became motivated to broaden his endeavors. He bought Sun Life Insurance Company of America and evolved it into SunAmerica. Today, Eli is remembered as a devoted philanthropist who committed himself to serving the underprivileged in the society. More details follow below.

Early Life: Childhood, Education

Eli Broad was born to Lithuanian Jewish immigrant parents on June 6, 1933, in the Bronx, New York City, United States. He was the only child in a family which was of modest means. His mother was a dressmaker, while his father worked as a house painter.

When he was 6 years old, he moved to Detroit, Michigan with his family. There, he attended Detroit Central High School and moved on to Michigan State University in 1951, majoring in accounting with a minor in economics. While in college, he worked several jobs which included working as a drill press operator at Packard Motor and selling women’s footwear. After completing his bachelor’s degree in 1954, he proceeded to also acquire the credentials of Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Professional Life: Entrepreneurial Career

As soon as he had completed his studies, Eli Broad started the professional phase of his life by working as an accountant while also teaching night courses at Detroit Institute of Technology as an assistant professor of accounting.

A few years into his work as an accountant, he decided to open his own business. A relative of his wife, named Donald Kaufman, offered him office space to run his intended accounting firm, and in return, Broad promised to carry on the accounting work at Kaufman’s real estate firm. The two men got along well and started collaborating to build homes together in 1957. Broad took a loan from his wife’s parents to contribute to the founding of the home building company which they called Kaufman & Broad (later shortened to KB Home). Kaufman was responsible for designs while Broad handled land acquisition and materials. The company soon started flourishing, designing and building homes for primarily first-time house buyers. Their innovative designs were cost-effective, and within two years the company had built 600 homes in the Detroit suburbs. KB Home expanded to Arizona in 1962 and to California the following year. Their rapid success propelled them to take their endeavors to an international level and in 1967 they became the first American home builder to expand into France.

In 1071, Broad acquired a family-owned insurance company called Sun Life Insurance Company of America and transformed Sun Life into SunAmerica. He successfully built this business into a Fortune 500 company and later sold it to the American International Group (AIG) for the sum of $18 billion in 1999.

Achievements: Awards & Honors

Mr. Broad is an intelligent businessman, and there are no questions about that. His major works to date are his efforts in the founding of the insurance corporation SunAmerica, as well as the home building firm, KB Home. He is the only person in history to build two Fortune 500 companies in different industries. He is also a philanthropist, and all of his works both in business and philanthropy have helped him win a number of prizes in addition to well-deserved global recognition.

Broad was honored with the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2007. He received a David Rockefeller Award from the Museum of Modern Art in 2009, and the Republic of France named him Chevalier in the National Order of the Legion of Honor in 1994.

Personal Life: Wife, Children, Private Interests, Philanthropy

While studying at Michigan State University, Mr. Broad met and fell in love with a fellow student called Edythe “Edye” Lawson. He tied the knot with her after his graduation in 1954, and the two of them have remained happily married for more than 60 years. Their union was blessed with two children.

Along with his devoted wife, Mr. Broad was dedicated to philanthropy for many decades now. The husband and wife founded the Broad Foundations –which include The Broad Art Foundation and The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation—to foster entrepreneurship in education, science and the arts. The major initiatives of The Broad Foundation include the $1 million Broad Prize for Urban Education. Since 2002, The Broad Prize has donated approximately $12 million in college scholarships to high school seniors.

Eli Broad was a trustee of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, to which he gave a $30 million challenge grant in 2008. He and his wife are members of “The Giving Pledge” and have committed to give 75 percent of their wealth to charity.

Broad passed away on April 30, 2021 at the age of 87.

Eli Broad Net Worth: Salary, Income Sources, Assets

Mr. Eli Broad, the only person in history to build two Fortune 500 companies in different industries, had a wealth of $7.2 billion at the time of his death. His career spanned more than fifty years during which time he managed to establish KB Home (formerly Kaufman & Broad) and SunAmerica, and led them to huge international success after starting from scratch.

In the later stages of his life, he committed himself to philanthropy and pursued several charitable causes, especially in the aspects of education, science, and the arts through The Broad Foundations which he founded with his wife. Mr. Eli Broad may no longer be with us today, but we are certain that his legacy will continue to live on for many generations to come.