Net Worth: $1.2 billion

LAST YEAR: Not on list

AGE: 75

RESIDENCE: Porter Ranch

SOURCE OF WEALTH: Glass products

THE MONEY: Longtime owner of glass products company CR Laurence sold company in August for $1.3 billion; after taxes, his take was about $885 million. Still owns land underneath all CR Laurence facilities; that portfolio valued by prospective buyer at $300 million.

THE BUZZ: True rags to riches story; grew up in orphanage and foster homes in Pennsylvania. After serving in Army, headed west with $125 in pocket and joined CR Laurence in 1961 as warehouse worker. Company makes and supplies frames, hinges, handles, and thousands of other products to hold glass in place and then sells them to glass products manufacturers. Rose through ranks as protégé of owner, eventually earning 50 percent stake in company. When that owner retired, he became sole owner, further expanding company’s reach globally. After spending five years working on succession plan, sold company in August to Irish building supply company Oldcastle Building Envelope for $1.3 billion in cash. Garnered headlines and praise for distributing $86 million of that windfall to employees in checks just days after deal closed. Remains chief executive.