Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist, contemporary art collector and entrepreneur who co-founded homebuilding pioneer Kaufman and Broad Inc. and launched financial services giant SunAmerica Inc., died Friday in Los Angeles. He was 87.
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Eli Broad made his billions building homes, and then he used that wealth and the considerable collection of world-class modern art he assembled with his wife to shape the city around him.
Dogged, determined and often unyielding, he helped push and prod majestic institutions such as Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Museum of Contemporary Art into existence, and then, that done, he created his own namesake museum in the heart of Los Angeles.
With a fortune estimated by Forbes at $6.9 billion, the New York native who made California his home more than 50 years ago flourished in the home construction and insurance industries before directing his attention and fortune toward an array of ambitious civic projects, often setting the agenda for what was to come in L.A.
Eli Broad, magnate and philanthropist who gave tens of millions to MSU, dies at 87
Eli Broad, magnate and philanthropist who gave tens of millions to MSU, dies at 87
Staff and wire services
AP
In this Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011, file photo, Billionaire Eli Broad attends the unveiling of the Broad Art Foundation contemporary art museum designs in Los Angeles. Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist, contemporary art collector and entrepreneur who co-founded homebuilding pioneer Kaufman and Broad Inc. and launched financial services giant SunAmerica Inc., died Friday, April 30, 2021 in Los Angeles. He was 87. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Eli Broad, the billionaire businessman who founded two Fortune 500 companies in different industries and became a dominant philanthropic figure in Los Angeles and longtime donor major to his alma mater Michigan State University, has died. He was 87.
Credit steve carmody / Michigan Radio
Eli Broad, a Michigan State University alumnus who became a billionaire philanthropist and contemporary art collector, has died. He was 87.
Suzi Emmerling, a spokeswoman for the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, confirmed his death to The Associated Press. She said Broad died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after a long illness.
After graduating from MSU in 1954, Broad co-founded homebuilding pioneer Kaufman and Broad Inc. and launched financial services giant SunAmerica Inc, both Fortune 500 companies.
Broad left his mark on the East Lansing campus with the business school and art museum that bear his name, as part of more than $100 million he donated to Michigan State.