Richest American Families with Immigrant Roots

Busch family

German-born Adolphus Busch (1842-1913; pictured) started brewing Budweiser in 1876. His son August supposedly sent a beer crate to the White House when Franklin D. Roosevelt repealed Prohibition. The family’s $13-billion fortune comes mostly from selling off Anheuser-Busch stock and proceeds from the company’s merger with Belgian-Brazilian brewer InBev in 2008.

Du Pont family

The Du Ponts trace their fortune to Eleuthère Irénée “E.I.” du Pont (1771-1834; pictured). A prisoner during the French Revolution, he fled to the U.S. in 1799. The gunpowder manufacturing company he founded in Delaware evolved into chemical giant DuPont. Some 3,500 descendants now share a $15 billion fortune.

Mellon family

Irish farmer Thomas Mellon (pictured) immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1818. He studied law and became a judge, later investing in real estate and starting a bank that grew into BNY Mellon, with $1.6 trillion in assets. His descendants grew the fortune to an estimated $12 billion through investments and diverse business ventures.

Chao family

Ting Tsung "T.T." Chao (1921-2008) fled China for Taiwan in 1946, then moved to the U.S. in the 1980s. There he founded plastics manufacturer Westlake Chemical Corp. The family still runs the publicly traded company and own more than a third of its shares. Their fortune is worth an estimated $4.3 billion.

Coors family

In 1873, 26-year-old Adolph Coors (1847-1929; pictured) founded a brewery in Colorado after stowing away on a ship from Prussia. Born in Germany, he'd trained in brewing since he was 14 and found a partner to invest $18,000 in the venture. An estimated 70 members of the Coors family now share $2.9 billion in beer wealth.

Meijer family

Frederik Meijer (1919-2011; pictured) is the son of Henrik Meijer, who founded the family's supermarket chain in 1934 after emigrating from the Netherlands. Frederik's sons, Hank and Doug, are now co-chairmen of the Meijer grocery chain, and the family is worth around $8.9 billion. 

Rudin family

Real estate investor and developer Lewis Rudin (1927-2001; pictured) was the grandson of Louis Rudinsky, an immigrant from Eastern Europe who bought the family's first Manhattan property in 1902. Five generations later, the land is still part of the Rudin family’s portfolio of 34 office and apartment buildings. Rudinsky’s investment earned his descendents a fortune estimated at $4.4 billion. Lewis Rudin's brother, Jack, now chairs Rudin Management Co., and his son Bill is CEO. 

Elghanayan family

Henry Elghanayan (pictured) and his brothers run two real-estate firms with more than 20 million square feet of residential and commercial holdings in New York and Washington, D.C. Their fortune is worth an estimated $1.9 billion. It all started with their father, Nourollah Elghanayan, who bought land in Manhattan in the 1950s and 1960s after relocating his family from Iran. 

Epprecht family

After immigrating to Ohio from Switzerland, Hans Epprecht began delivering blocks of cheese to neighborhood stores in 1958 thanks to a $5,000 loan on his life-insurance policy. Now, Great Lakes Cheese is sold nationwide and the Epprecht family has a fortune worth an estimated $2.1 billion. Hans' daughter took over as chairman in 2011, and his sons, John and Kurt, are also executives.

Haseotes family

Greek immigrants Vasillios and Aphrodite Haseotes founded Cumberland Farms in 1939. Today, the family-run company runs 600 convenience stores and 2,000 gas stations in the Northeast and Florida. Their daughter Lily Bentas now chairs the board, and grandson Ari Haseotes is president and CEO. The family is worth an estimated $2.1 billion.

Schottenstein family

Ephraim Schottenstein opened the family's first retail store in Columbus, Ohio, 1917 after emigrating from Lithuania. Eventually, it grew into a family-owned retail empire that includes American Eagle Outfitters, DSW and various private holdings. Their Schottensteins are now worth an estimated $1.7 billion. The founder's grandchildren recently settled a sibling squabble over management of their trusts.

Weyerhaeuser family

After emigrating from Germany, Frederick Weyerhaeuser (1834-1914; pictured) became one of the richest Americans to have ever lived. At its peak, the timber baron's fortune was worth $85 billion in today's dollars. Now, about 250 descendants share a fortune worth an estimated $1.7 billion.

Haas family

The Haas family traces its roots to Levi Strauss, who invented the first pair of blue jeans in 1873 after emigrating to the U.S. from Bavaria. Nearly a century and a half later, San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. is still owned mainly by his descendants. They share a fortune worth around $1.6 billion. (Photo: AP)

Pulitzer family

Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) became a media magnate after moving to St. Louis from Hungary. He pioneered journalism that crusaded against corruption and used sensationalistic techniques. He endowed the Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and Columbia University's journalism school. His heirs share a fortune worth around $1.5 billion.

Unanue family

Prudencio Unanue Oritz, who was born in Spain, bought the rights to "Goya" for $1 from a Moroccan sardine-importer in 1936. The family-run food company now has $1.5 billion in sales, and the family fortune is estimated at $1.1 billion. Prudencio's grandson, Bob Unanue (pictured at center), is CEO.

The richest women in America 2014

Christy Walton

$38 billion

• Profiled by Condé Nast Portfolio magazine in The Giving Index, she is ranked as the highest female philanthropist according to the amount she gives as a percentage of her wealth.

Christy Walton is the wealthiest woman the world, $1 billion wealthier than L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. Christy married into what is now the richest family in the world (The Walton family still hold more than half the Walmart shares and are worth a combined total of US$152b.) and inherited her wealth when husband John Walton, a former Green Beret and Vietnam war medic, died in an airplane crash in 2005. She's the wealthiest of the Waltons thanks to a side investment by John that turned into a major score: solar energy company First Solar.

Alice Walton

$34.9 billion

Alice Walton is one of the heirs of the Wal-Mart fortune, founded by her father Sam back in 1962. With her billions, Alice has long focused on curating art, culminating in the opening of the Crystal Bridges Art Museum in her hometown of Bentonville, Ark., in 2011. This year, she reportedly agreed to purchase a New Jersey home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and have it moved down to the museum's campus.

Jacqueline Mars

$22 billion

Jacqueline Mars and her two brothers, Forrest Jr. and John, own the secretive ($33 billion) candy maker Mars. All three siblings serve on its board of directors, but the family has no role in day-to-day operations. Their grandfather Frank started Mars in 1911 in his Tacoma, Washington kitchen.

Laurene Powell Jobs

$16.6 billion

Laurene Powell Jobs is making more of a name for herself as a political and social influencer, three years after the death of her husband Steve Jobs. She is the founder and chair of the Emerson Collective, an organization that focuses on using entrepreneurship to advance social reform and help under-resourced students, and College Track, a nonprofit college completion program. Powell Jobs is among the top donors to Ready for Hillary, a super PAC that has already raised some $6 million to support a Hillary Clinton presidential run.

Anne Cox Chambers

$16.1 billion

Board member and majority owner of Cox Enterprises, with revenues of nearly $16 billion from cable TV, broadband, newspapers, radio stations and online car sales, among other businesses. Her father, James M. Cox (d. 1957), founded the group in 1898 when he purchased the Dayton Evening News.

Abigail Johnson

$13.3 billion

Heir apparent at Fidelity, Johnson has studied the business at the feet of her CEO father, Edward Johnson, III. , including serving as president for the past two years. (Dad had the same job before replacing his father, Edward Johnson II, the company’s founder.) Abigail began working at Fidelity before she even started college—working as a gofer in the summer before her freshman year at Hobart and William Smith, taking down telephone orders. She joined the firm full-time in 1988.

Blair Parry-Okeden

$8 billion

Siblings each got 25% stake in media giant Cox Enterprises in 2007 when their mother, Barbara Cox Anthony, died. Jim Kennedy, who is chairman, is turning Cox into a car megabrand: It bought back 25% of AutoTrader.com this year. Sister Blair lives in Australia and has no role in company.

Dannine Avara

$7 billion

Sister to Randa Williams and Milane Frantz, with as many shares. Not involved in the company.

Milane Frantz

$7 billion

Sister to Randa Williams and Dannine Avara, with as many shares. Not involved in the company. Sits on the board of the Hermann Park Conservancy in Houston and the Baylor College of Medicine Board of Trustees.

Nancy Walton Laurie

$4.2 billion

Daughter of Bud Walton (d. 1995), who cofounded Wal-Mart with his brother Sam, inherited Wal-Mart shares. She also owns Missouri’s Providence Bank and founded a performing arts school in Columbia, Mo.

Elaine Wynn

$2.3 Billion; Age 71

Elaine Wynn cofounded casino empire Wynn Resorts with ex-husband Steve three decades ago and still sits on the board.