Who’s the richest person in Pennsylvania? Here’s a look at the state’s 17 billionaires

Pennsylvania’s richest individuals have made their fortunes in sports merchandising, beer brewing and candy selling, just to name a few industries.

As of 2023, the planet’s 2,640 billionaires are worth $12.2 trillion, a slight drop in number and collective worth from last year, according to Forbes Magazine.

America still boasts the largest number of them: a total of 735 billionaires this year, according to Forbes. The Keystone State is home to 17, as of Forbes’ June 28 ranking. Here’s a closer look at each and where their fortunes come from.

Pennsylvania’s billionaires

1. Jeff Yass

• Forbes billionaires list ranking: 48th richest in the world

• Net worth: $28.5 billion

• Age: 67

• Residence: Haverford, Pa.

Jeff Yass co-founded Susquehanna International Group, a top trading firm on Wall Street. Prior to trading stocks, Yass was a professional gambler, and according to Forbes, his company trains and recruits traders using poker tournaments to test their decision-making skills.

Susquehanna has invested in hundreds of companies, but its most valuable holding is TikTok by parent company ByteDance, according to Forbes.

2. Michael Rubin

• Forbes ranking: 151

• Net worth: $11.4 billion

• Age: 50

• Residence: Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Michael Rubin founded and is CEO of the online sports merchandising retailer Fanatics. After dropping out of Villanova University, Rubin started GSI Commerce, an e-commerce company he sold to eBay in 2011 for $2.4 billion.

Since 2021, Rubin has nearly tripled his wealth, rising from $3.5 billion to $11.4 billion in 2023, according to Forbes.

3. Victoria Mars

• Forbes ranking: 195

• Net worth: $9.6 billion

• Age: 66

• Residence: Philadelphia, Pa.

An heiress to the giant candy and pet food company Mars, Victoria Mars and her three sisters inherited 8% stakes in the company when their father, Forrest Mars Jr., died in 2016. It was her great-grandfather Frank Mars who founded the company in 1911.

Today, the $45 billion company is best known for making M&M’s, Milky Way candy bars and Skittles, though it also makes Ben’s Original Rice and dog food Pedigree. Mars first started working for her family’s company in 1978 in France as assistant brand manager for Milky Way. In 2017, she stepped down as chairperson of the board of directors after three years in that role.

4. Jeffrey Lurie

• Forbes ranking: 624

• Net worth: $4.4 billion

• Age: 72

• Residence: Wynnewood

Jeffrey Lurie, a former professor of social policy, is the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles NFL team.

In 1994, Lurie took out a loan to buy the team for $185 million. The team is now worth nearly $5 billion, according to Forbes. Lurie owns more than 90% of the Philadelphia Eagles team.

5. Thomas Hagen

• Forbes list rank: 659

• Net worth: $3.9 billion

• Age: 87

• Residence: Erie, Pa.

Thomas Hagen is the chairperson of Erie Indemnity, an insurance company. The company was co-founded by his late wife Susan’s father. Hagen has been with the company for more than 50 years and served as its CEO for three of those years.

Today, Erie Indemnity is the nation’s 13th largest auto insurer and its 12th largest home insurer, according to Forbes.

6. Mary Alice Dorrance Malone

• Forbes ranking: 679

• Net worth: $3.7 billion

• Age: About 73 or 74 years old

• Residence: Coatesville, Pa.

Mary Alice Dorrance Malone is the largest shareholder of Campbell Soup.

She and her billionaire brother, Bennett Dorrance, sit on the company’s board. It was their grandfather, John T. Dorrance, who invented the condensed-soup formula in 1897. Malone is also the president of Iron Spring Farm, which breeds and trains horses at lavish properties in Pennsylvania and Florida.

7. John Middleton

• Forbes list ranking: 852

• Net worth: $3.4 billion

• Age: 68

• Residence: Bryn Mawr, Pa.

According to Forbes, John Middleton made his fortune with the sale of his family’s tobacco business for $2.9 billion. It was established in 1856 by Middleton’s great-great-grandfather, who ran it as a small tobacco shop in Philadelphia.

The company began making cigarettes in the 1950s, and in 1980, it launched the Black & Mild cigar brand. John Middleton is also notable as the principal owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, the baseball team. Middleton holds a near 50% share.

8. Thomas Tull

• Forbes ranking: 1,104 (tied with Maggie Hardy Knox)

• Net worth: $2.8 billion

• Age: 53

• Residence: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Thomas Tull was born to a single mother in Binghamton, N.Y., and grew up poor, according to Forbes. After attending college on a football scholarship, he started a chain of laundries, but his biggest hit came from funding blockbuster films through his company, Legendary Entertainment. In 2015, Tull sold the company for $3.5 billion in cash, stock and debt.

Lately, he’s turned to investing, and owns a lucrative minority stake in the Pittsburgh Steelers football team.

9. Maggie Hardy Knox

• Forbes ranking: 1,104 (tied with Thomas Tull)

• Net worth: $2.7 billion

• Age: 58

• Residence: Belle Vernon, Pa.

Maggie Hardy Knox is the owner of 84 Lumber, the largest privately-owned building material supplier in the U.S. Her father founded the company near Eighty Four, Pa.

10. Edward Stack

• Forbes ranking: 1,434 (tied with Jared Issacman)

• Net worth: $2 billion

• Age: 68

• Residence: Sewickley, Pa.

Edward Stack is the executive chairperson and largest shareholder of Dick’s Sporting Goods, a company his father founded in 1948 with a $300 loan from his grandmother.

11. Jared Isaacman

• Forbes ranking: 1,434 (tied with Edward Stack)

• Net worth: $2 billion

• Age: 40

• Residence: Easton, Pa.

Jared Isaacman is the founder and CEO of payment processing firm Shift4, which is based in Allentown. Shift4 handles payments for a third of the restaurants and hotels in the U.S.

12. Brian Roberts

• Forbes ranking: 1,725

• Net worth: $1.7 billion

• Age: 64

• Residence: Philadelphia, Pa.

Brian Roberts is the CEO and chairperson of media giant Comcast. His father founded the company.

13. David Paul

• Forbes ranking: 2,020

• Net worth: $1.5 billion

• Age: 56

• Residence: Audubon, Pa.

David Paul is the founder and executive chairperson of spine implant maker Globus Medical. His company makes the Excelsius GPS, one of the few robots that can perform surgery on the market.

He is also a trained mechanical engineer.

14. Alfred West Jr.

• Forbes ranking: 2,134

• Net worth: $1.4 billion

• Age: 80

• Residence: Paoli, Pa.

Alfred West Jr. oversees the financial services firm SEI, which he founded in 1968.

15. Richard Hayne

• Forbes ranking: 2,259 (tied with Alan Miller)

• Net worth: $1.3 billion

• Age: 75

• Residence: Philadelphia, Pa.

Richard Hayne is the co-founder and president and CEO of clothing retailer Urban Outfitters.

16. Alan Miller & family

• Forbes ranking: 2,259 (tied with Richard Hayne)

• Net worth: $1.3 billion

• Age: 85

• Residence: Lower Merion, Pa.

Alan Miller founded Universal Health Services, a chain of hospitals with 400 facilities in the U.S. Annually, the company brings in about $11 billion in revenue, according to Forbes.

Miller stepped down as CEO in 2021, passing the role along to his son. He remains executive chairperson of the board of directors, however.

17. Richard Yuengling Jr.

• Forbes: 2,540

• Net worth: $1.1 billion

• Age: 80

• Residence: Pottsville, Pa.

Richard Yuengling is the fifth-generation owner of D.G. Yuengling & Son, America’s oldest brewery. According to Forbes, it was established in 1829 and survived the Prohibition era by pivoting to ice cream and non-alcoholic beer.

When Richard Yuengling Jr. bought out his father’s struggling brewery business in 1985, the company was rolling out just 137,000 barrels a day. Now it produces nearly 3 million barrels a day.