To me, this puppet has been one of the great experiments in marketing. We had 500 employees. Estimated income in 2021: Reviewing: His recovery took almost a year. Below is an evolving list of Connecticut natives and state prep school football players in the Class of 2023 who have signed letters of intent to play football in college. And follow us on Facebook and Instagram @connecticutmagazine and Twitter @connecticutmag. . Born and raised in Louisiana. Celine Dion. Rich DeVos, 91, owner of Ada-based Amway, comes in at No. He livesin Beverly Hills. He took a Buddhist vow of silence from the time of John F. Kennedy s assassination until the 1973 conclusion of the Vietnam War. He was an actor, known for Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), The Flower Thief (1960) and West Coast Beat and Beyond (1984). He launched the company in 1972, one of the first to offer loan programs to help dealers sell cars to customers with poor or no credit. He became distracted and hit a telephone pole. I had 25 people working under me responsible for making tachometers [instruments that measure RPMs in vehicles and boats]. We were very successful, but the industry crashed in the late 1980s. I swerved and my leg got caught between the bike and a utility pole. (Emily Zoladz | Mlive file photo). (This interview has been edited for length and clarity.). One of the hallmarks of Bobs is the large caf in each store. By not being your typical pitchman. The landlord would pay the taxes, heat and other utilities, and, in return, Kaufman gave him a percentage of sales. A 'No Phony Gimmicks' Guy | 75th Anniversary I also met the woman who became my life partner there. Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates was again No. He ran the company as CEO for three decades and took it public in 1992. Stryker heir Jon Stryker is the founder and president of the Arcus Foundation, which has offices in downtown Kalamazoo, New York City and Cambridge, UK. That to me is whats thrilling finding that talent and giving them the opportunity.. You look like crap. 973. 962 with $2.4 billion. He oversees more than 25 companies with around $13 billion in assets through his Beverly Hills-based private equity firm Platinum Equity LLC. Pat Stryker, Ronda and Jon Stryker's sister, placed at No. We run it like a small, family business., Kaufman will tell you the success of his business is predicated on good quality and a fair price. One of the biggest decisions that anyone will make in life is whether to work for themselvesor work for someone else, said UConn business school alumnus Bob Kaufman 74, founder and president emeritus of Bobs Discount Furniture. Beat and Surrealist poet in the oral tradition whose poems follow jazz music rules of meter and syncopation. That organization asked Kaufman to donate some bunk beds. A friend recommended he try a waterbed, which he did, and he loved it. Martha Ford's own paternal grandparents founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. After her husband died in 2014, she inherited the Detroit Lions. I took over from a guy named Red who was demoted when the stores sales plummeted. Bob Kaufman has been died on Jan 12, 1986 ( age 60). Bob Kaufman is a famous Poet who has a net worth of $1-2 million. When I woke up, I thought, If Im going to work this hard for somebody, I might as well try something for myself. 224, surpassing Detroit businessman Daniel Gilbert. Bobs Discount Furniture donates millions to charity each year, culled from the 150 requests it receives each week. Ilitch also owns the Detroit Red Wingsand MotorCity Casino Hotel. His fortune is estimated at $2.7 billion. The brothers who formerly were co-chairmen of Grand Rapids-based Meijer Inc. moved up from No. I had a 102 percent increase.