Dec 31, 2022

I am an intern on Forbes's wealth team. Got it! Got it! ILLUSTRATION BY HEVAN CHAN FOR FORBES; Photos by Getty Images; Bloomberg; Getty Images A total of 26 billionaires died in the past year, including tycoons who made their fortunes in everything from real estate and hedge funds to orange juice and Red Bull. A mutual fund magnate, an energy drink entrepreneur, and an eyewear mogul were among the 26 billionaires who died in 2022. That’s out of a total of 2,668 billionaires on Forbes list of the World’s Billionaires, published in April 2022. Among the deceased are Edward "Ned" Johnson III, who led giant mutual fund firm Fidelity as CEO for nearly 40 years, Red Bull energy drink cofounder Dietrich Mateschitz and Julian Robertson, a hedge fund pioneer who founded Tiger Management in 1980. Several of the billionaires who passed away had earned nicknames that encapsulated their entrepreneurship — including Brazil’s “Orange King” José Luis Cutrale, who founded an orange growing and exporting company, and Egyptian-born U.S. money manager Fayez Sarofim, who was known as “The Sphinx” for his inscrutable demeanor. Nearly half of the billionaires who died this year were American citizens. Multiple billionaires from India, Austria, and France also passed away. Two of the deceased had net worths that topped $20 billion: Italy’s Leonardo Del Vecchio, whose eyewear empire included retailer Sunglass Hut and brands such as Ray-Bans, and Mateschitz, the founder of Red Bull. Most of the billionaires were at least 80 years old including Robert Brockman, who was charged with masterminding the largest tax-evasion case in U.S. history but died before the case went to trial. Nine of them lived into their 90s. The youngest was South Korean gaming company founder Kim Jung-ju, who died at age 54 in February. “The deceased had been receiving treatment for depression, and we are sad that it seemed to have worsened recently,” his personal holding company, NXC, told a local news agency. Here are the billionaires who died in 2022, in alphabetical order. John Arrillaga Died: January 2022 at age 84 Arrigalla was a Silicon Valley real estate developer who, with business partner Richard “Dick” Peery, bought farmland in the 1960s and converted it into office parks. Tenants in their firm Peery Arrillaga’s buildings have included tech giants including Google and Intuit. Arrillaga attended Stanford University on a basketball scholarship and later became a prolific donor. He made a $151 million pledge to the university in 2013, the largest gift from a living donor at the time. His family’s name appears on at least nine Stanford buildings, including the Frances Arrillaga Alumni Center and the Arrillaga Family Sports Center. Read the full obituary here . Alberto Bailleres Died: February 2022 at age 90 Bailleres built his fortune by expanding his family’s mining empire, started by his father Raul in the 1930s. He chaired Industrias Penoles, Mexico’s second largest mining company, and also controlled department store chain Palacio de Hierro, insurance company Grupo Nacional Provincial and pension fund manager Grupo Profuturo. The Mexican senate awarded Bailleres the Belisario Domínguez Medal, the highest distinction bestowed to a citizen, in 2015. At a press conference announcing his death, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said while the two men did not always see eye to eye, they maintained a respectful relationship for more than 20 years. Bailleres was Mexico’s fourth richest person at the time of his death. Read the full obituary here . Rahul Bajaj Died: February 2022 at age 83 The grandson of Bajaj Group founder Jamnalal Bajaj, Rahul took over his family’s business in 1994. Under his leadership, the Bajaj Group grew into a conglomerate of 40 companies in sectors such as two-wheeled scooters, financial services and electrical appliances. He became chairman emeritus one year before his death. Fellow auto billionaire Pawan Munjal, chairman and CEO of Hero MotorCorp, called Bajaj “one of the pioneer nation builders in modern India.” Bajaj was a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, and received the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian honors. Read the full obituary here . Pierre Bellon, Chairman and Founder of Sodexho, in 2007. AFP via Getty Images Died: August 2022 at age 81 Brockman amassed his fortune as a software engineer, serving as the chairman and CEO of Reynolds and Reynolds, which sells software and services to automotive dealerships. In October 2020, Brockman was charged with masterminding the largest tax-evasion case in U.S. history, accused of hiding some $2 billion in income from the IRS over two decades. Brockman denied the allegations. He died before the case went to trial. Brockman was also the seed funder for billionaire Robert F. Smith ’s private equity firm Vista Equity Partners in 2000, with a $1 billion commitment. Jose Luis Cutrale, the 'Orange King' of Brazil and chief executive officer of Sucocitrico Cutrale Ltda., in 2016. Getty Images Died: June 2022 at age 87 Del Vecchio founded Luxottica, which became the world's largest producer and retailer of sunglasses and prescription glasses, in 1961 as an eyewear workshop in a small Italian town. He grew up in Milan, one of five children, and was sent to an orphanage at age 7 by his mother, who could no longer afford to raise him. At age 25 he launched his eyewear workshop on a small piece of land offered by the government. Luxottica is now an industry leader, having acquired brands including Ray-Ban, Oakley and Sunglass Hut. Luxottica merged with French visual health giant Essilor to form EssilorLuxottica in 2018. Read the full obituary here . Clement Fayat Died: June 2022 at age 81 Horten inherited a $1 billion fortune from her husband, Helmut Horten, who founded the German department store Horten AG in 1936. She was known for her notable and valuable art collection and became a sensation in the art world in 1996, when she spent $22 million at a single Sotheby’s auction. Horten died just days after she opened a private museum in Vienna, the Heidi Horten Collection, featuring her collection in what the museum called a “completely unexpected death.” “I am proud, with my collection and the construction of the museum, to have created something lasting, which future generations will also be able to experience when they visit my museum and take joy in the art that has given me such joy for so long,” Horten said in a statement before her death. Read the full obituary here . Rakesh Jhunjunwala in 2012. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Died: August 2022 at age 62 Known as the Warren Buffett of India, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala started investing when he was in college with just $100. His biggest asset at the time of his death was watch and jewelry maker Titan Company. Jhunjhunwala’s portfolio also included longtime investments in Tata Motors and the ratings firm Crisil. “Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was indomitable. Full of life, witty and insightful, he leaves behind an indelible contribution to the financial world,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted following Jhunjhunwala’s death. Jhunjhunwala was a founder of and prolific donor to Ashoka University, a liberal arts school in Haryana, India, and also regularly contributed to the Agastya International Foundation, which provides science education to the poor. Read the full obituary here . Fidelity Chairman Edward (Ned) C. Johnson III, with his daughter Abigail Johnson Corbis via Getty Images Died: March 2022 at age 91 Johnson led mutual fund firm Fidelity as CEO for nearly four decades, overseeing growth in managed assets from $3.9 billion in the early 1970s to $1.7 trillion in 2014, the year he stepped down. A family company, Fidelity was founded by his father, Edward Johnson II, in 1946 and is now led by Johnson’s daughter Abigail, who took over as CEO in 2014. Johnson appeared on The Forbes 400 list of richest Americans annually starting in 1985; he was the 67th richest person in America when he died. His family’s charitable foundation, the Edward C. Johnson Fund, has given away nearly $1 billion since 2000. Read the full obituary here . Kim Jung-ju Died: October 2022 at age 82 Ranked Taiwan’s 15th richest person before his death, Ma was the founder of financial services company Yuanta Financial Holdings. Ma helped run his family’s building materials shop and worked with a steel firm and a glass manufacturer before taking over Yuanta’s predecessor company in 1986. He expanded his business through acquisitions to create Yuanta Financial Holdings in 2007. In 2014 Ma was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in a breach of trust case, but he hadn’t been jailed due to a diagnosis of dementia. Read the full obituary here . Dietrich Mateschitz, the cofounder of energy drink maker Red Bull, in 2004. AFP via Getty Images Died: October 2022 at age 78 Mateschitz cofounded Red Bull in 1987, revolutionizing the energy drink market in the western world. He first discovered energy drinks while on a trip to Asia in 1980 as a marketing executive for a German consumer products firm. He soon partnered with Thai businessman Chaleo Yoovidhya, adding carbonation to the Asian energy drinks Chaleo already made to create Red Bull. Red Bull spent heavily on advertising campaigns that linked its energy drink with adventure sports and fast living. In 2021, Red Bull had $8 billion in revenue and sold 9.8 billion cans. Mateschitz was the 71st richest person in the world at the time of his death. “When we first started, we said there is no existing market for Red Bull. But Red Bull will create it,” Mateschitz told Forbes in 2005. “And this is what finally became true.” Read the full obituary here . Pallonji Mistry Died: June 2022 at age 93 Mistry chaired the Shapoorji Pallonji group, an engineering and construction giant that built landmarks including the Reserve Bank of India building in Mumbai and the palace of the Sultan of Oman. He joined his family’s construction company at age 18 in 1947 and took charge of the business after his father’s death in 1975. Under Mistry’s leadership, his company expanded to projects in Africa, including the president’s office in Ghana. Much of Mistry’s fortune came from being the single largest shareholder with an 18.4% stake in Tata Sons, the holding outfit of the Tata group. Read the full obituary here . Michael Price Died: August 2022 at age 90 A pioneer of the modern day hedge fund industry, Robertson founded Tiger Management in 1980. He closed the firm after a successful 20-year run and seeded notable hedge funds, known as Tiger Cubs, including Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global, Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management and Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital. Before launching his hedge fund career, Robertson spent two years serving in the Navy and 21 years at investment bank Kidder Peabody. He also dabbled in writing, spending a year in New Zealand in 1978 to author an autobiographical novel he never published. Robertson was a prolific philanthropist and donated more than $1.4 billion to causes including medical research and environmental protection. Read the full obituary here . Vito Rodriguez Rodriguez Died: May 2022 at age 93 A native Egyptian nicknamed “The Sphinx” for his calm, inscrutable demeanor, Sarofim immigrated to the U.S. in 1946, studying at UC Berkeley and Harvard before entering finance. He launched money management firm Fayez Sarofim & Co. in 1958 with just $100,000; by 1969, he had more than 400 clients and $1.2 billion under management, and had adopted Houston as his hometown. Sarofim made his first appearance on The Forbes 400 in 1987. Fayez Sarofim & Co.’s assets under management now top $30 billion under the leadership of his son, Christopher Sarofim. “I’ve always claimed it took someone from abroad to recognize the true potential in this country,” Sarofim told Forbes in 1969. Read the full obituary here . Robert Toll