In part 2 of America's 50 wealthiest people, we scoured the Internet to find out more about these compelling life stories: was the wealth inherited or was it self-made? And if they made their own wealth, how did they achieve it? Opportunity often knocks once. You have to identify it and take it or risk letting it pass you by. Take a few tips from these affluent people's stories and power through your week. The American dream is within reach for each and every one of us. We just have to reach out and grab it!
Disclaimer: Some numbers can be different from Forbes, but this article follows the numbers provided by Movoto's map. Click here for the 50 wealthiest people in America, by state: Part 1, Part 3, Part 4 and the last part.
40. West Virginia: James (Jim) C. Justice – $1.6 Billion
Jim Justice is the only billionarie in West Virginia. He made his money by joining his father's coal mining company, Bluestone Industries Inc. and Bluestone Coal Corporation, in 1976 and taking over in 1993. He sold much of his coal mining business to a Russian company called Mechel OAO for $436 million in cash and $240 million in preferred shares in 2009, the same year that he bought a struggling resort, The Greenbrier. He still owns agricultural enterprises in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina under the parent James C. Justice Companies, Inc. He built a traning camp complex for $30 million of "his own money" in Greenbrier, WV where the NFL Saints trained this year.
Sources: Forbes, Greenbrier.com, USAToday
39. Rhode Island: Jonathan Nelson – $1.8 Billion
The mind behind Providence Equity Partners, a private-equity firm which he founded in 1989, he made his fortune by buying and selling media and telecom properties. Today, Providence manages $40 billion in assets and holds stakes in TV provider Univision and education platform Blackboard. He is a Rhode Island native who studied economics at Brown University and received his MBA from Harvard.
Sources: Forbes, Providence Equity, TheRichest.com
38. Kentucky: Bradley Hughes; the self-storage king – $2.3 Billion
Do you own a storage unit? If you do, then chances are that you have helped build Bradley Hughes' fortune. He founded Public Storage in 1972 and has turned it into the largest self-storage chain the world. The company has over 2,200 locations across the U.S., with some in Puerto Rico and Europe as well. He is currently Chairman Emeritus of his company; his daughter, Tamara Gustavson, is board member and the single largest shareholder.
But storage units are not all Hughes is about. He also saw another opportunity during the real estate crash of 2009 and the increase in rental demand: in 2011, he joined with the Alaska Pension Fund and formed a publicly traded REIT called American Homes 4 Rent. He also founded ACE, a real-estate management company. And, he's a lover of thoroughbred horse racing. He owns a farm in Livingston, KY where his championship horses reside.
(Photo: Lexington History Center)
Sources: Forbes, TheRichest.com
37. Mississippi: Leslie Lampton; oil and diversification tycoon – $2.4 Billion
The owner of Vicksburg Refinery and around 500 wells in East Texas and Louisiana, Leslie Lampton's wealth also comes from his company Ergon Inc., which specializes in refining and distributing petroleum products, and manufacturing products such as road maintenance equipment. He founded Ergon Inc. in 1954 with just two employees. Today, the company has more than 2,000. Some of the companies that are associated with Ergon include: Crafco, Inc.; Lampton-Love, Inc.; Diversified Technology, Inc.; Lion Oil; and Tricor Refining. He graduated in 1948 from the University of Mississippi.
(Photo: Downtown Jackson, Mississippi)
Sources: CelebrityNetWorth.com, Ergon.com, Forbes List, TheRichest.com
36. South Carolina: Anita Zucker; part-heiress, part-self-made billionaire – $2.7 Billion
Anita Zucker's wealth is part-inherited from her husband Jerry, who founded InterTech Group in 1982, and part self-made. After her husband's death of a brain tumor in 2008, she became the CEO of InterTech and her son, Jonathan, the president. The company specializes in chemicals, commercial real estate, manufacturing and aerospace parts production. They also own the largest solar farm in South Carolina, TIG Sun Energy, which opened in January 2014; the Carolina Ice Palace; and 50 percent of the South Carolina Stingrays, a minor league hockey team.
(Photo: Charleston, SC plantation oak tree in spring)
Source: Forbes
35. Pennsylvania: Mary Alice Dorrance Malone; Campbell's heiress – $3 Billion
Granddaughter of former Campbell's Soup President John T. Dorrance, who bought the company from his uncle in 1914, Mary Alice Dorrance Malone is enjoying her inherited fortune. The family still holds approximately half of the outstanding shares of Campbell stock. Mary Alice spends much of her time at the Iron Spring Farm in West Philadelphia, where she breeds championship horses.
(Photo: A Sotheby's technician walks past a set of Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup screen prints at the auction rooms in London, 2013. The set of ten screen prints was estimated at $152,000 – $228,000. AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
