Net Worth: $2.9 B

LAST YEAR: $2.8 B
CHANGE: 3.6%
AGE: 79
RESIDENCE: Bel Air
SOURCE OF WEALTH: Inheritance, money management

THE MONEY: Trust Co. of the West was founded by Day in 1971. Three decades later, 70% of the company was sold to French investment bank and financial services company Société Générale for between $1.4 and $1.9 billion. Day is the chairman and chief executive of W.M. Keck Foundation, which has more than $1 billion in assets. The foundation was founded by Day’s grandfather, William Myron Keck, the founder of Superior Oil Co. Day is also the chief executive of Oakmont Corp., a University Park-based hedge fund.

THE BUZZ: The W.M. Keck Foundation provided multiple grants to universities this year. In March, it awarded two teams at the University of California, Davis, $1 million each in the same award cycle. It also provided a three-year grant for $1 million to Weill Cornell Medicine for the development of a next-generation high-speed atomic-force microscope. Most recently, a University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led team received a $1.4 million Keck grant to study quantum computing. Day received a degree from Claremont McKenna College, of which he is now a trustee. He made a $200 million donation to the school in 2007, creating the Robert Day Scholars Program.