Portrait of Gordon Getty & family

Rank #768

Gordon Getty & family

Net worth $5.5B

Getty Oil · United States

Born
Dec 20, 1933
Age
92
Source
Getty Oil
Residence
San Francisco, California
Citizenship
United States
Marital status
Widowed
Children
7
Education
Bachelor of Arts/Science, San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Net worth over time

Biography

  • Gordon Getty, whose oil tycoon father J. Paul died in 1976, led the sale of his family's Getty Oil to Texaco for $10.1 billion in 1984.
  • Once the sole trustee of the family trust, Getty orchestrated the breakup into six separate trusts in 1985.
  • Getty is a classical music composer, whose compositions include the Canterville Ghost, Plump Jack and Usher House.
  • Since 2008, Getty has given more than $450 million to his philanthropic foundation, which supports performing arts, music and museum projects.
  • He founded PlumpJack Winery in 1995 with Gavin Newsom, now California's governor.
  • An opera and wine aficionado, Getty is a partner in Odette Estate winery in Napa Valley.
  • The Getty family faced many tragedies: The wife of Gordon's brother J. Paul Jr. died of a heroin overdose and J. Paul Jr.'s son was kidnapped by Italian gangsters.
  • Getty has publicly acknowledged the fact that he has two families: four sons with his late wife Ann, and three daughters with Cynthia Beck.