Net Worth:

$2.1 billion

Last Year:


Age:

81

Residence:

Beverly Hills

Source of Wealth:

Aerospace, medical devices, biotech

The Money:

Serial entrepreneur currently has one public company, Valencia-based MannKind Corp., and several start-ups that he either controls or has significant stakes. His roughly one-third stake in Mannkind took a beating over the past year, with share prices down 17 percent. Decline was offset by a broad-based investment portfolio and gains in his private ventures, according to Mann.

Buzz:

MannKind is moving closer to offering diabetics an alternative to insulin injections, with its inhalable insulin pump in late-stage clinical trials. Likely will be the third such product on market when it gains FDA approval but technology is considered by many to be superior. One of Mann’s youngest companies, Second Sight is developing a visual implant to restore partial sight to the blind but is several years from market. Big past hits include neural implant maker Advanced Bionics, sold to Boston Scientific for $4.5 billion; diabetes treatment company Minimed was acquired by Medtronic for $4.2 billion. Has turned Valencia into a small biotech hub with his Mann Biomedical Park, home to MannKind and some of his start-ups. Aside from business ventures, Alfred E. Mann Foundation funds medical research into fields targeted by his companies. Its annual star-studded Evening of Innovation and Inspiration has raised more than $4.6 million over the past three years. Plans to donate his entire fortune to charity and medical research. So far has given $163 million to Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at USC, a medical device incubator. Plans to fund several similar programs around the world, notably in Israel, where he pledged $100 million to Technion-Israeli Institute of Technology. In March, inked agreement for third such institute at Purdue University. Chairman of the Southern California BioMedical Council, a regional industry group.