Steven M. Rales Biography

Steven M. Rales (born 1951) is an American businessman who is chairman of Danaher Corporation. He is listed as the 118th richest person in America, with a value of $3.4 billion.

Early life and education

Raised in a Jewish family, Rales is one of four sons of Norman and Ruth Rales. His father was raised in an orphanage, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in New York City and later became a businessman who sold his building supply company in Washington, D.C. to his employees in what was the first employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) transaction in the U.S. His father was also a philanthropist founding the Norman and Ruth Rales Foundation and the Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service. Steven Rales has three brothers: Joshua, Mitchell, and Stewart.

Rales graduated in 1969 from Walt Whitman High School, in Bethesda, Maryland. in 1973 from DePauw University, where he was in the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. In 1978, he was awarded a J.D. from American University.

Investments

In 1979, he left his father's real estate firm to found Equity Group Holdings, with his brother Mitchell Rales. Using junk bonds, they bought a diversified line of businesses: first Mastershield, a vinyl siding manufacturer, then Mohawk Rubber Company, then Diversified Mortgage Group. They changed the name to Diversified Mortgage Investors, in 1978, and then Danaher, in 1984.

In 1985 they bought EASCO, an aluminum siding manufacturer, and hand tool manufacturer.

In 1988, they made a hostile takeover bid for Interco, (including Converse (shoe company), and Ethan Allen (furniture company)). When the company responded with a poison pill, they sued, and prevailed in court. They later ended the bid after five months with a profit of $60 million.

In the 1980s, the AM side of WGMS was sold off to Washington, D.C., venture capitalists Steven and Mitchell Rales, who converted the music station into the first frequency for WTEM, a sports-talk station, in 1992.

He has served as Chairman of the board, of Danaher, since January 1984.

In 1995 Steven and Mitchell Rales founded Colfax Corporation, a Richmond, Virginia industrial pumps manufacturer. In May 2008, Steven engineered the initial public offering of the company.

Indian Paintbrush

Rales owns a production company Indian Paintbrush, which has funded The Darjeeling Limited (2007), and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009).

The company was also involved in Moonrise Kingdom (2012), Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) and Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011).

Philanthropy

He has been a major supporter of the Washington Ballet. In 2002, he was a major donor in the dedication of the Peeler Art Center at DePauw University. He was a donor to GolfRocks.

Personal life

In 1983, he married Christine Plank, a 1974 DePauw University alumni. They divorced in 2003.