Rank #924
Herbert Wertheim
Net worth $4.6B
Investments · United States
- Born
- May 23, 1939
- Age
- 87
- Source
- Investments
- Residence
- Coral Gables, Florida
- Citizenship
- United States
- Marital status
- Divorced
- Children
- 2
- Education
- Associate in Arts/Science, Brevard Community College; Bachelor of Arts/Science, Southern College of Optometry; Doctorate, Southern College of Optometry
Net worth over time
Biography
- Herbert "Herbie" Wertheim is an optometrist and inventor who built a fortune over five decades of investing in stocks.
- Wertheim, who is dyslexic and struggled in school, joined the U.S. Navy at age 17 after facing truancy charges.
- He founded and still runs Brain Power Inc., a manufacturer of optical tints for eyeglasses; it holds more than 100 patents and copyrights.
- Since 1970, he has invested his profits from Brain Power into the stock market and is the largest individual shareholder in aerospace firm Heico.
- As a child, Wertheim ran away from home, finding work picking oranges in Florida or living with the Seminole Indians.
- In 1969, he invented an eyeglass tint for plastic lenses that would filter out and absorb dangerous UV rays.
- As a young NASA engineer at Cape Canaveral, he designed an automatic dipping machine to make 15-inch, no-drip beeswax candles.
Financial assets
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