Rank #589
Ronald Wanek
Net worth $6.7B
Furniture · United States
- Born
- May 19, 1941
- Age
- 84
- Source
- Furniture
- Residence
- Saint Petersburg, Florida
- Citizenship
- United States
- Marital status
- Married
- Children
- 3
- Education
- High School Graduate, High School
Net worth over time
Biography
- Ronald Wanek is the founder of America's largest home furniture manufacturer and retailer, Ashley Furniture.
- Wanek grew up poor on a dairy farm in Minnesota, where his grandfather and great uncle built furniture as a hobby.
- He started his first furniture manufacturing business, Arcadia Furniture, in 1970 with a loan from his father and money he got from selling his home.
- Six years later he bought retailer Ashley Furniture, which had been around since the 1940s.
- He is chairman of Ashley Furniture; his son Todd, also a billionaire, has been CEO since 2002.
- Wanek has donated millions to the Mayo Clinic to help improve treatment for a heart defect that affected his granddaughter at birth.
- Wanek's family office, Third Lake Capital, owns office buildings, shopping centers and nursing homes.