NET WORTH:
$1.59 billion 2.6%
LAST YEAR: $1.55 billion
AGE: 64
RESIDENCE: Los Angeles
SOURCES OF WEALTH: Surgical devices, investments
THE MONEY: Spinal surgeon and medical device inventor’s wealth came in windfall $1.3 billion-plus patent settlement with Medtronic for surgery innovations and patent royalties from earlier inventions. Real estate now key focus at his Karlin Asset Management, including distressed real estate, mortgage-backed securities and making bridge loans to real estate developers.
BUZZ: Employs seasoned portfolio managers at his in-house asset management firm to finance growing philanthropic portfolio. Interests include animal welfare, medical research, environmental reclamation and access to education. Saw increases on value of investments as economy recovered, further fueling philanthropic giving. Newest interest is Million Minds Foundation, a philanthropy run by former state Sen. Dean Florez that seeks to create library of low-cost and free digital textbooks for struggling community college students. Lifelong animal lover created Found Animals Foundation to reduce euthanasia of abandoned animals, including storefront adoption pet shops locally and national $25 million award for creation of a safe nonsurgical means to sterilize pets. Michelson-backed company has planted more than 50 square miles of teak trees on former clear-cut rain forest in Panama and Costa Rica. Philadelphia native inspired to become surgeon after grandmother developed rare spinal condition. Holds 600 U.S. and foreign patents, many developed in a former garage lab when not in surgery at Inglewood’s Centinela Hospital.
