About Donald Bren
Donald Bren is 86 years old American businessman and the most wealthy real estate developer known for being the chairman of Irvine Company, an American private company in real estate development business. He now holds the 30th position among the 2018 Forbes 400 list according to his net worth $16.3 billion.
Early Life
Donald was born on 11th May, 1932 in Los Angeles, California as Donald Leroy Bren to Marion Newbert and Milton H. Bren. He was raised in family of mother being involved as a prominent civic leader whereas father in the job of naval officer and a talent agent. He also had one brother named Peter Bren. Both attended Beverly Hills High School with summers being spent to work as carpenter for their dad’s real estate development business. He witnessed his parent’s separation at a very young age in 1948. For further education he joined University of Washington on a partial athletic scholarship for skiing earning his bachelor degree in business administration and economics in 1955. He later joined United States Marine Corps as an officer
before starting his career in business for three years.
Career
He started his career in 1958 by taking his first contract of building a house in Newport Beach with a $10,000 loan. Soon he founded Bren Company in Orange County, California and started building homes in Orange County. He is a self-made mogul who turned his $10,000 bank loan into a multi-billion dollar empire. He subsequently joined the O’Neill family to form the Mission Viejo Company to build master planned community in 11,000 acre. He next set his sight on the county’s largest land development project: Irvine Ranch, a 93,000 acre property that also includes 9 miles of coastline along the Pacific and accounts for 20 percent of the county. This all let him gain more experience in this field thus partnering with a member of Irvine family and other investors to acquire the Irvine Company and become the wealthiest real estate investor, developer and community builder in the United States. Bren used to own a third of the Irvine Company initially, but in 1983 he bought out several other shareholders becoming the sole owner. The company also owns properties in West Los Angeles, San Diego and Silicon Valley.
Achievements
He got listed among the 100 most influential people in Orange County by OC Register’s in 2014.
Personal Life
Donald got married three times. His marriage was with Diane Bren with whom he has two children; Cary Bren and Steve Bren. His second marriage was with Mardelle Bren in 1977 and is father of one daughter; Ashley Bren from her. After divorce he got married to Brigitte Muller in 1998 and is father of one son. Other than this he holds the fatherhood of three more children from his two former companions.
Net Worth
It is estimated to be around US$16.3 billion as on March 2018.
