40 Facts About Eli Broad

Eli Broad was an American businessman and philanthropist.

Eli Broad's father worked as a house painter, and his mother as a dressmaker.

Eli Broad's family moved to Detroit, Michigan, when he was six years old.

Eli Broad attended Detroit Public Schools and graduated from Detroit Central High School in 1951.

Eli Broad became the youngest Michigan resident to attain the credentials of Certified Public Accountant, a record he held until 2010.

Eli Broad worked as an accountant for two years and taught night classes at the Detroit Institute of Technology as an assistant professor of accounting in 1956.

Borrowing $12,500 from his wife's parents, Eli Broad put up half the capital in their first venture together, building two model homes in the Northeast Detroit suburbs where a new generation of first-time home buyers were flocking.

Kaufman and Eli Broad named this model the "Award Winner" and priced it at $13,700.

In 1971, Eli Broad acquired Sun Life Insurance Company of America, a family-owned insurance company founded in Baltimore in 1890, for $52 million.

Eli Broad transformed Sun Life into the retirement savings powerhouse SunAmerica.

Eli Broad continued as CEO of SunAmerica until 1999, when he left to focus on philanthropy full-time.

In June 2019, The New York Times published an op-ed authored by Eli Broad advocating for a wealth tax.

Eli Broad said he would remain as a trustee of the foundation, and continue to serve on the board of the Eli Broad Museum.

Eli Broad said he was in good health and felt like it was time to "step back".

In 2001, Eli Broad founded the Eli Broad Center, a nonprofit focused on developing school system leaders.

From 2002 to 2014, the Eli Broad Foundation awarded an annual $1 million Eli Broad Prize for Urban Education.

The Eli Broad Prize recognized the large urban school districts in America that have made the greatest improvement in student achievement while narrowing achievement gaps among low-income students and students of color.

The Eli Broad Center identifies, develops, and supports outstanding leaders who are inspired to work towards transforming public education into an engine of excellence and equity.

The Eli Broad Residency in Urban Education is a two-year program that matches early- to mid-career professionals with management roles in urban public school systems while earning an accredited masters in education.

Eli Broad was the founding chairman of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 1979 and chaired the board until 1984.

Eli Broad recruited the founding director of the museum and negotiated the acquisition of the Panza Collection for the museum.

In 2008, the Eli Broad Foundation donated $30 million to the museum.

Eli Broad was a life trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

In 2003, the Eli Broad Foundation gave $60 million to the museum as part of its renovation campaign to create the Eli Broad Contemporary Art Museum and for an art acquisition fund.

Eli Broad called Los Angeles a "cultural capital of the world".

In 2000, Eli Broad founded the Grand Avenue Committee, which coordinated and oversaw further development of Grand Avenue in Los Angeles.

Eli Broad was involved in the fundraising campaign to build the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which opened in October 2003.

Eli Broad was instrumental in securing the $50 million deposit from the project developer, Related Companies, that opened Grand Park in summer 2012.

Eli Broad's first civic board membership and significant investment in education was a $10 million commitment to Pitzer College in 1970.

In 2000, Eli Broad gave $23.2 million for the Eli Broad Art Center at UCLA, designed by Richard Meier.

In 2014, the Eli Broad Foundation announced a $5 million gift to the Eli Broad Art Museum at MSU to support exhibitions.

Eli Broad was a life member of the California Institute of Technology Board of Trustees where he funded the Broad Center for the Biological Sciences.

Eli Broad served on the advisory committee for gun control group Everytown For Gun Safety when it launched in 2014.

Eli Broad was drawn into the art world by his wife Edythe's interest in collecting.

Eli and Edythe Broad established the Broad Art Foundation in 1984 with the goal of making their extensive contemporary art collection more accessible to the public.

Eli Broad died on April 30,2021, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California after a long illness, less than two months before his 88th birthday.

Eli Broad was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1994 was named Chevalier in the National Order of the Legion of Honor by the Republic of France.

Eli Broad received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2007 and the David Rockefeller Award from the Museum of Modern Art in March 2009.

Eli Broad served on the board of the Future Generation Art Prize.

Eli Broad was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2016.