Eight Dallas-Fort Worth clans appear on the latest Forbes list of America's richest families. Some names are familiar; others, maybe not so much. But they all have one thing in common: billions of dollars.
The Hunt family is the wealthiest in the area, at No. 15, with $14.2 billion spread out among 33 descendants. Legendary oil tycoon H.L. Hunt, on whom the Dallas character of J.R. Ewing was based, founded the dynasty with 15 children by three different women, and now those relatives have made their mark in oil, shale, hospitality (Caroline Hunt started Rosewood Hotels & Resorts) and sports (Lamar Hunt supposedly coined the term "Super Bowl," and the kids still own the Kansas City Chiefs football team).
The Bass family, known for riding the oil wave, revitalizing Fort Worth and now saving ice cream, lands at No. 29 on the list, with a $8.2 billion net worth among four descendants of legendary wildcatter Sid Richardson and his nephew, Perry Bass.
Ross Perot Sr. and Ross Perot Jr. share $5.4 billion and tie with the Getty family for spot No. 56. If their money, gained through technological investments, wasn't enough, Forbes also points out the senior Perot's historical bids for the presidency and how his son was the first to circumnavigate the globe in a helicopter. You know, just in case you didn't feel like enough of an underachiever.
The surname "Rogers" may not sound familiar, but it's the family of Mary Kay Cosmetics founder Mary Kay Ash. Her grandson, Ryan (the company's chief investment officer), and his wife, Maleiah, are fixtures on the Dallas charity circuit.
The richest family in Texas, and No. 10 in the United States, is the Duncan family from Houston, with a net worth of $22.4 billion divided among four family members. Family patriarch Charles Duncan made a fortune in pipelines before his death in 2010 and passed on his considerable wealth to his heirs.
Nineteen of the 200 families on the list are from Texas, and although much of the wealth is derived from oil and gas exploration, Texans on the richest list made their fortunes in such disparate industries as supermarkets, fast food, auto dealerships and sporting goods.
Here is a complete list of the wealthiest families in Texas and their rankings in Forbes:
- No. 10: Duncan family, Houston, with a net worth of $22.4 billion (pipelines)
- No. 15: Hunt family, Dallas, with a net worth of $14.2 billion (oil)
- No. 24: Butt family, San Antonio, with a net worth of $10.4 billion (owners of H-E-B)
- No. 26: Marshall family, Dallas, with a net worth of $9 billion (diversified)
- No. 29: Bass family, Fort Worth, with a net worth of $7.2 billion (oil, investments)
- No. 39: Chao family, Houston, with a net worth of $7.2 billion (chemicals)
- No. 56: Perot family, Dallas, with a net worth of $5.4 billion (investments)
- No. 56: Simmons family, Dallas, with a net worth of $5.4 billion (finance)
- No. 70: Friedkin family, Houston, with a net worth of $4.1 billion (Toyota distributor)
- No. 93: Fasken family, Midland, with a net worth of $3.1 billion (oil)
- No. 104: Dobson family, San Antonio, with a net worth of $2.6 billion (Whataburger)
- No. 109: Gochman family, Houston, with a net worth of $2.5 billion (Academy)
- No. 139: Mitchell family, Houston, with a net worth of $1.8 billion (oil)
- No. 139: Walter family, Houston, with a net worth of $1.8 billion (oil and gas)
- No. 149: Rogers family, Addison, with a net worth of $1.7 billion (Mary Kay Cosmetics)
- No. 163: Cullen family, Houston, with a net worth of $1.5 billion (oil and coal)
- No. 174: Westerman family, Addison, with a net worth of $1.4 billion (oil)
- No. 179: Briscoe family, Uvalde, with a net worth of $1.3 billion (ranch land)
- No. 193: Colburn family, Irving, with a net worth of $1.2 billion (electric equipment distributor)
Caroline Rose Hunt (left) is active on the Dallas charity circuit.
