Steven Ferencz Udvar-Házy (István or Steve Hazy; born 1946, Budapest, Hungary) is the CEO of Air Lease Corp. He is the former Chairman and CEO of International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), one of the two largest aircraft lessors in the world (the other being GECAS).[1] In 2009, Forbes ranked him as the world's 409th richest person, with a net worth of US$2.8 billion.[2]
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The Udvar-Házy [ˈudvɒrˈhaːzi] family came to the United States in 1958, fleeing the Soviet occupation of Hungary. Hazy attended the University of California, Los Angeles.[3]
Hazy was still in his 20s during the later part of transition from propeller aircraft to jets during the mid to late 1960s, and realized that the higher capital investment required to purchase jet aircraft created an opportunity for a leasing business. He founded ILFC with two partners in 1973, leasing a single used DC-8 to Aeromexico.[3]
Udvar-Hazy is responsible for a US$65 million grant to the Smithsonian Institution that allowed the U.S. National Air and Space Museum to build the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center annex at Washington Dulles International Airport.[4] The annex houses more than 120 aircraft and 140 space-exploration exhibits as of 2006, and plans call for eventually installing over 300 aircraft.[5]
The Udvar-Hazy family contributed funds to build the Christine and Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Library and Learning Center at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Prescott Campus. The new library provides students with updated facilities and a great view of the surrounding campus. This donation is the largest to date made to the university.[6]
In 2005, Udvar-Hazy purchased a Laguna Beach, California gay bar, The Boom Boom Room, and an attached hotel, the Coast Inn, for US$14.9 million. The bar dated to the 1930s and was frequented by gay and lesbian patrons, including actor Rock Hudson, starting in the 1950s.[7] After media reports of Udvar-Hazy's plans to raze the buildings and construct a boutique hotel, gay and lesbian activists organized a campaign, dubbed Save the Boom, to preserve the bar.[8] In 2006 and 2007, the campaign sent thousands of postcards to Udvar-Hazy's office; organized a rally outside of the Los Angeles headquarters of American International Group, parent company of ILFC; and appealed to the Laguna Beach City Council to deny the required permits for the project. Fred Karger, founder of the campaign, told The Advocate: "This fight is essential to the gay community that live in and visit Laguna Beach. The historic Coast Inn and Boom Boom Room represent our past and our future."[9] Despite the efforts, the bar closed in September 2007 when the lease expired.[8] With the permit-approval process stalled, Udvar-Hazy offered the property for sale in 2007,[10] but later removed it from the market. The hotel remains open and on April 14, 2010, the Laguna Beach Planning Commission approved major renovation plans that do not include a restaurant or nightclub.[11]