Eli Broad, the billionaire entrepreneur turned philanthropist and art collector who played an outsized role in shaping the art and cultural scene of Los Angeles, died on Friday at the age of 87.
Gloria Tso reports.
Billionaire, entrepreneur and philanthropist Eli Broad, who shaped much of the modern Los Angeles cultural scene, died on Friday at the age of 87.
A spokeswoman for Broad's foundation said he passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA following a long illness.
Broad championed and helped finance the city's famed Broad Museum of contemporary art, which opened in 2015.
He also secured one of the museum's first major acquisitions, the collection of Italian Count Guiseppe Biumo di Panza, now said to be worth $1 billion, according to his foundation's website.
Broad contributed heavily to the construction of the nearby Walt Disney Concert Hall as well as an art center at UCLA.
His donations helped open the Broad Center at the Yale School of Management, and the Broad Institute, a medical research center created in partnership with Harvard University and MIT.
An accountant by trade who made his fortune in real estate and insurance, Broad kicked off his career in Detroit, building single-family homes in the suburbs.
He and his wife moved to Los Angeles in 1963.
An avid art collector, Broad turned to philanthropy full time in 1999, before retiring in 2016.
In a statement, a spokesman for Broad's Foundation said "as a philanthropist he saw the problems in the world and tried to fix them, as a citizen he saw the possibility in our shared community, and as a husband, father and friend he saw the potential in each of us." Broad is survived by his wife and two sons.
Eli Broad, a self-made billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist who used his wealth to reshape the cultural landscape of Los..
Eli Broad, a self-made billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist who used his wealth to reshape the cultural landscape of Los..
