Billionaire property and Sun Life insurance mogul turned arts mega-donor Eli Broad dies aged 87
Broad was the only child of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, with his family moving to Detroit when he was seven
Broad passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Friday
His spokesman said he had suffered a long illness prior to his death
Broad made his billions money in property and insurance
He then lavished hundreds of millions on good causes, including two art museums
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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.
More than a dozen institutions across the US bear his name or imprint, including the Broad Institute for biomedical research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.