John Edson is an American businessman and craftsman who has a net worth of $1 billion dollars. Based in Jackson, Wyoming, John Edson attended the University of Washington, but subsequently joined the Army and fought in the Korean War. He did not go back to school after he returned to the United States, and began building sailboats in his garage.
The success of his boat building eventually led to the founding of Bayliner Marine Corp., a company devoted to the manufacture of affordable plywood boats, in 1955. Thirty-one years later, he sold Bayliner to the Brunswick Corporation for $425 million. He still has a small stake in the company, and also owns a portion of Westbrook Shipyard. He is a major supporter of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. He donated $5.4 million to Arizona State University to fund an entrepreneurship program in 2005. In addition to his philanthropic work, he is an avid pilot, and spends time on his 164-foot yacht.
| Net Worth: | $1 Billion |