Lester Crown Biography

Lester Crown (born June 7, 1925) is the son of Chicago financier Henry Crown (died 1990), who created Material Service with two brothers in 1919, which merged with General Dynamics in 1959.

He has been a perennial member of the Forbes 400 list since 1982. Lester controls family holdings, including large stakes in Maytag, Hilton Hotels, Alltel, Aspen Skiing Company, New York's Rockefeller Center, and pro basketball's Chicago Bulls. He also holds a stake in the New York Yankees, being a Partner since 1973. Presumably, the large stake held in Bank One at the time of the 2003 Forbes 400 listing has converted to JPMorgan Chase stock and was derived from an interest in First Chicago Bank, which was enumerated in the 1998 Forbes 400 list as First Chicago NBD shares. Recent achievements include brokering a controversial agreement to expand O'Hare International Airport, and spearheading the funding of the new Cook County Hospital (Stroger Hospital). He is a major benefactor of Jewish charities, universities and the Aspen Institute. He is the chairman of the Commercial Club of Chicago and Chicago Council on Global Affairs. His current hometown is Wilmette, Illinois.

Education and career

Crown received his BS in chemical engineering from Northwestern University (1946), followed by an MBA from Harvard University (1949). He was President of Marblehead Lime Co as well as the president of Royal Crown (RC) Cola. from 1956 to 1966. During the 1950s, the Crown family had a controlling interest in New York's Empire State Building. He has served as the president and chair of General Dynamics, and currently sits on the Board of Directors of Maytag. He has been President of Henry Crown & Co. since 1969. He is a former director of Continental Illinois bank, Trans World Airlines, and Esmark.

Affiliations

Affiliations include: Trusteeship of Northwestern University, the Aspen Institute and the Michael Reese Foundation. Crown is on the Board of Directors of Lyric Opera and Children's Memorial Hospital. He is a member of Lake Shore Country Club, Northmoor Country Club, Standard Club, Economic Club of Chicago, and Northwestern University's John Evans Club. He is a member of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science and of the Tel Aviv University's Board of Governors.

Lester Crown is also deeply involved with The Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. He donated the initial $10 million gift that started the center in 2005. He and the rest of his family are involved with the Crown Fellows program in American History at Brandeis, as well.

Personal life

Lester and Renée (née Schine) Crown are the parents of Steven, James, Patricia, Susan, Daniel, Sara, and Janet, and have 25 grandchildren. Their son James Crown is the President of Henry Crown & Co. A daughter, Janet Crown, is founder and owner of Burn 60 Fitness Studios. Among his 7 children are board members of several major cultural institutions. A daughter Susan Crown, is chairwoman of the Shoah Foundation. Together the family's net worth exceeds 4 billion dollars.

Political views

In a 2008 letter to "a large number of Jewish voters", Crown expressed his support for Barack Obama, the Democratic Presidential Candidate:

"While my involvement in politics is motivated by a variety of issues, there is one issue that is fundamental: My deep commitment to Israel and to a strong U.S.-Israel relationship that strengthens both Israel's security and its efforts to seek peace," Crown wrote. "I am writing to share with you my confidence that Senator Barack Obama's stellar record on Israel gives me great comfort that, as President, he will be the friend to Israel that we all want to see in the White House - stalwart in his defense of Israel's security, and committed to helping Israel achieve peace with its neighbors."

The Republicans and Democrats alike share in his contributions.

See also

• List of billionaires