LOS ANGELES — Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist, contemporary art collector and entrepreneur who co-founded homebuilding pioneer Kaufman and Broad Inc.
It was Broad who provided much of the money and willpower used to reshape Los Angeles’ once moribund downtown into a burgeoning area of expensive lofts, fancy dining establishments and civic structures like the landmark Walt Disney Concert Hall.
He quit his job and partnered with developer Donald Kaufman and began building starter homes for first-time buyers eager to claim their slice of the American Dream.
His charitable foundations donated millions to such projects, particularly those aimed at improving public education, and established endowments at several universities across the nation.
In the 1990s, Broad led the campaign to help raise money to build the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall and was a major underwriter of Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art, among other institutions.
A decade later, he famously purchased Roy Lichtenstein’s “I … I’m Sorry” for $2.5 million at an auction with a credit card and donated the more than 2 million frequent flier points he racked up to students at the California Institute for the Arts.
A Democrat, he led the push to lure the party’s national convention in 2000 to Los Angeles.
Years after Nixon resigned the presidency in disgrace, Broad told Los Angeles Magazine that his efforts on Nixon’s behalf were something “I hate to admit to.” But it wasn’t the last time he would support a Republican.
The son of Lithuanian immigrants, Broad was born June 6, 1933, in New York City but raised in Detroit.
At 20, he passed Michigan’s certified public accountant exam, becoming the youngest person at the time to do so.
Soon Broad took note of the real estate market and began studying the field, reading industry journals and using his accounting know-how to analyze the business.
In 1957, at the age of 23, he went into business with Kaufman, selling homes in the suburbs of Detroit.
Kaufman and Broad took their approach West, first to Arizona then California.
As he had done prior to venturing into real estate, Broad began doing research on the insurance market and saw financial planning for retirees as a better business.
“I will do the things that I enjoy doing and things that I could have the most value with rather than doing the day-to-day things,” Broad told The Associated Press at the time.
In 1999, the Broads founded the Broad Education Foundation, with the goal of improving urban public education.