LOS ANGELES — Eli Broad, a self-made billionaire, philanthropist and art collector who used his wealth to reshape the cultural landscape of Los Angeles, died Friday.
Broad died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after a lengthy illness, Suzi Emmerling, a spokeswoman for the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, told The New York Times.
The city and the nation have lost an icon,” Los Angeles Times Executive Chairman Patrick Soon-Shiong and his wife, Michele Chan, said in a statement.
Broad played a major role in creating the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, The New York Times reported.
Broad spent millions to assist medical and scientific research programs, including stem cell research centers at UCLA, the University of Southern California, the University of California at San Francisco and Harvard University, the newspaper reported.
Working with civic leaders and developers, Broad helped shape a plan to transform Grand Avenue, in Los Angeles’ neglected downtown, into a cultural and civic hub, The New York Times reported.
Born in New York on June 6, 1933, Broad was an only child who grew up in Detroit, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Broad graduated with a degree in accounting from Michigan State University in 1954 and married Edythe “Edye” Lawson the same year.
After working for a small accounting firm, Broad formed a partnership in 1957 with Donald Kaufman to build tract houses in the Detroit suburbs, The New York Times reported.
In 1971, the partners diversified, spending $52 million for a Baltimore insurance company, Sun Life, which became a moneymaker when Broad began selling annuities and financial planning services to baby boomers.