Topline
Eli Broad, who amassed a multi-billion-dollar fortune from his home-building and insurance businesses, and used his wealth to fund cultural improvements throughout his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, died Friday at age 87.
Key Facts
A spokeswoman for the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation confirmed his passing to the New York Times Friday evening, which she said came after a long illness.
Broad died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Key Background:
Broad was born in New York in 1933. The only child of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania, his family moved to Detroit in 1940, where his father painted houses and ran five-and-dime stores. While attending high school and college, Broad worked odd jobs, including selling ladies’ shoes operating a drill-press at the Packard Motor Company. After…