George Kaiser

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George B. Kaiser (born 1942) is an American self-made billionaire businessman and chairman of BOK Financial Corporation.

1 Biography
2 Personal
3 Philanthropy
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Born in 1942, he attended Tulsa public schools, and went on to earn a bachelor's degree and MBA from Harvard University. He briefly considered joining the U.S. Foreign Service, but instead returned to Tulsa in 1966 to work for his father. Kaiser-Francis Oil Co. was created in the 1940s by Mr. Kaiser's uncle and parents, Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany who settled in Oklahoma. [1] Kaiser took control of Kaiser-Francis Oil Company in 1969. In 1990, Kaiser bought the Bank of Oklahoma, N.A. from the FDIC, the government agency that guarantees the soundness of the nation's major savings institutions. Buying the Bank of Oklahoma landed Kaiser on the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans. As of 2007, Kaiser's ownership interests in BOKF were worth $2.3 billion. With an estimated current net worth of around $11 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 26-richest person in America.

[edit] Personal

He is married with 3 children. Splits time, with new wife, Myra, between Tulsa, OK and San Francisco.

[edit] Philanthropy

Fights childhood poverty through George Kaiser Family Foundation, He is also a major benefactor to the Jewish community in Oklahoma, which numbers about 5,000 people [2].