Steven F. Udvar-Hazy

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Biography

Steven Ferencz Udvar-Házy (István or Steve Hazy; born 1946, Budapest, Hungary) is the CEO of Air Lease Corp. He is the former Chairman and CEO of International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), one of the two largest aircraft lessors in the world (the other being GECAS). In 2011, Forbes ranked him as the world's 409th richest person, with a net worth of US$3.2 billion.

Biography

The Udvar-Házy family came to the United States in 1958, fleeing the Soviet occupation of Hungary. Hazy attended the University of California, Los Angeles.

Hazy was still in his 20s during the later part of transition from propeller aircraft to jets during the mid to late 1960s, and realized that the higher capital investment required to purchase jet aircraft created an opportunity for a leasing business. He founded ILFC with two partners in 1973, leasing a single used DC-8 to Aeromexico.

Udvar-Hazy is responsible for a US$66 million grant to the Smithsonian Institution that allowed the U.S. National Air and Space Museum to build the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center annex at Washington Dulles International Airport. The annex houses more than 120 aircraft and 140 space-exploration exhibits as of 2006, and also includes the Space Shuttle Discovery. Plans call for eventually installing over 300 aircraft.

The Udvar-Hazy family contributed funds to build the Christine and Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Library and Learning Center at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Prescott Campus. The new library provides students with updated facilities and a great view of the surrounding campus. This donation is the largest to date made to the university. The business building at Dixie State College is named after his parents.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Biography

Biography

See also