Your trusted source

“He shook up the casino, auto and movie industries in turn, making a fortune not by focusing on a single endeavor, but by buying, selling and buying again”, - this is how The Los Angeles Times in its lengthy article  describes Armenian-American Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian – once “the richest person in Los Angeles”, who died at 98 on June 16 in his Beverly Hills home.

Kerkorian’s personal fortune in 2007 was estimated at $18 billion and he was ranked No. 7 on the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, notes the article, recalling how Kerkorian made his big purchases of MGM Studios, of General Motors, how he bought Las Vegas’ Bellagio and the Mirage, among other properties, how he built the International hotel (now the Westgate Las Vegas) in 1969, which was billed as the largest resort hotel in the world (he actually built the world's largest resorts three times), how he invented the foundation of the enormous adult Disneyland, and many other notable achievements of his.
“I've always felt he's the most complicated man. Yet he's also the most simple man. He thinks differently than most of us. He finds the gut issue and focuses on that”, - quotes the article one of Kerkorian's best friends, financier George Mason.
Describing how Kerkorian started to make his career, The LA Times mentions that he was the son of immigrants from Armenia, then part of the Ottoman Empire and writes that “Kerkorian rose from hard-scrabble poverty to comfort to extreme wealth, powered by little more than energy and guts”.

The article then goes on to describe in detail his story and his path, which also reveals his unique personality traits.
The author also writes about Kerkorian’s philanthropy and mentions his Lincy Foundation, established in 1989 initially to aid victims of a devastating earthquake in Armenia, and which over the years it gave more than $1 billion to various causes, including about $270 million to UCLA.

Noting the quiet manner in which Kerkorian typically engaged in philanthropy, without requesting his name to be put on buildings (unlike major contributors), the article quotes Lee Iacocca, former Chrysler chief executive saying, “He was one of the most generous people I’ve ever met, and one of the quietest about it”.

“He was the type of person who would have a $10 meal and give the waiter a $100 tip. He never forgot where he came from”, - Jay Rakow, former MGM executive and head of the foundation is quoted as saying.

Kerkorian, who was married four times — most recently to Una Davis, according to a 2014 report in the Las Vegas Sun — was single at the time of his death. He is survived by daughters Tracy Kerkorian and Linda Kemper; and three grandchildren, reads the LA Times article.