NET WORTH: $3.2 billion +33%

LAST YEAR: $2.4 billion

AGE: 66

RESIDENCE: Beverly Park

SOURCE OF WEALTH: Airplane leasing

THE MONEY: Net worth gained altitude this year along with the fortunes of Air Lease Corp., the company he launched in 2010 and took public in 2011. Topped Business Journal’s Executive Compensation list at nearly $58 million, mostly in stock awards.

BUZZ: Aviation executive Udvar-Hazy made news all year. His company ordered 19 jetliners from Boeing Co. worth $2.5 billion, as annual revenue jumped nearly fivefold to $333 million. Company floated $1 billion in unsecured notes to pay for it. Hungarian native co-founded airplane leasing pioneer International Lease Finance Corp. in 1973 while student at UCLA. He sold out to insurance giant AIG in 1990 for $1.3 billion but stayed on to run company until 2010, when complications related to AIG’s financial problems prompted him to resign. In April, ILFC filed lawsuit, accusing Udvar-Hazy and his team of executives of stealing trade secrets to start new company. Air Lease called charges baseless and promised vigorous defense. Udvar-Hazy is a lifelong aviation geek with pilot certification and a collection of 2,000 model planes. This year, the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center, part of the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Chantilly, Va., took possession of space shuttle Discovery.