Wisconsin’s Wealthiest People: 9 Residents Make Forbes Richest Billionaires List

Home improvement and hardware store tycoon John Menard Jr. is the wealthiest person in Wisconsin, according to Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s wealthiest people. He is among nine Wisconsinites on the list, which was released by the magazine Monday.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates again topped the list for the fourth year in a row with a fortune of $86 billion, up from $75 billion last year, the magazine said.

With a net worth of $10.8 billion, Menard is far wealthier than President Donald Trump, who also made the list. Trump’s net worth is estimated at $3.5 billion, down about $1 billion from a year ago, the magazine said.

“It was a record year for the richest people on Earth, as the number of billionaires jumped 13 percent to 2,043 from 1,810 last year, the first time ever that Forbes has pinned down more than 2,000 ten-figure-fortunes,” Forbes said. “Their total net worth rose by 18% to $7.67 trillion, also a record. The change in the number of billionaires — up 233 since the 2016 list — was the biggest in the 31 years that Forbes has been tracking billionaires globally.”

The ubiquitous home improvement chain had humble beginnings when the first store was opened in 1958 — Forbes said Menard initially planned a pole building business — and is now a vast empire. Menard still owns the majority of it, and still plays an active role. Menard lives in Eau Claire.

The second-richest person in Wisconsin is Herbert Kohler Jr., whose family makes toilets, faucets and other products might be found in one of Menard’s stores. Kohler’s net worth is $8 billion, Forbes said. Kohler retired as CEO in June 2015. The company has greatly diversified and owns two golf courses, one in Kohler, Wisconsin, and the other in St. Andrews, Scotland, and plans to add a third one on the shore of Lake Michigan. Kohler also breeds show horses on farms in Kentucky and Wisconsin.

Rounding out the Wisconsin list are:

• James Cargill II, of Birchwood, worth an estimated $3.9 billion: His family’s empire started with a single grain storage warehouse in Iowa in 1865, and is now the largest private company in America with operations around the world.
• Diane Hendricks, co-founder and chairman of the Beloit-based ABC Supply, worth an estimated $3.9 billion: Hendricks and her late husband, Kenneth, who died in a roofing accident, founded the company in 1982. It now has more than 600 stores nationwide, and Hendricks was named a member of Trump’s economic advisory team in 2016.
• H. Fisk Johnson, the fifth generation of the family to lead Racine-based SC Johnson, worth an estimated $3.8 billion: The privately held company makes companies you’re sure to find under your sink, and is best known for products such as Windex, Off! And Fantastick. Three other members of the Johnson family are also on the list.
• Imogene Powers Johnson, the matriarch of the family, worth an estimated $3.8 billion: Her late husband, Samuel, rain the company until 2000. They met at Cornell University, where she served on the board of the Lab of Ornithology.
• S. Curtis Johnson, the great-great-grandson of founder Samuel Curtis Johnson, worth an estimated $3.8 billion: He had been chairman of the company’s industrial cleaning division, Diversey, but stepped down in 2011 for personal reasons, three years before he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor sexual assault of his stepdaughter. He was sentenced to four months in jail and fined $6,000. Diversey was sold in 2011.
• Helen Johnson-Leipold, CEO of Johnson Outdoors, worth an estimated $3.8 billion: Johnson-Leipold heads the company that sells outdoor gear and also is chairwoman of the Johnson Financial Group, which owns Johnson Bank.
• Judy Faulkner, founder and CEO of Epic Systems, worth an estimated $2.4 billion: More than half of the U.S. population’s medical information is stored in the software created by Faulkner’s company, founded in 1979. Still privately held, its clients include Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins. She lives in Madison, and her company has moved to nearby Verona.

The complete Forbes billionaires list can be found here.

Photo by Miram Rijavec via Flickr Commons