Barron Hilton

Barron Hilton married Marilyn June Hawley in 1947, and they had eight children. The couple remained married till Marilyn’s death in 2004. Barron has 15 grandchildren. Paris Hilton, a popular American TV personality, is one of his granddaughters.

Barron Hilton was born in Dallas, Texas, on October 23, 1927, to Mary Adelaide and Conrad Nicholson Hilton. Conrad established the company in 1919, at a small inn in Texas, and by the time Barron was born, the company had already started doing well. Barron grew up with three siblings.

Barron was not the studious type. As a kid, he was mostly interested in flying planes. At the age of seven, he rode his bike to open spaces and watched planes fly for several hours. Soon, he had made up his mind about flying planes someday.

He found another passion in photography, during his stint at the Second World War. After high school, he started taking classes in flying planes and became a trained pilot soon after. Subsequently, he got enrolled at the ‘University of Southern California Aeronautical School.’ He earned his respectable twin-engine rating two years later.

Although he could have immediately joined his father’s booming hotel business, he decided to experiment with a few small entrepreneurial ventures of his own in order to hone his entrepreneurial skills. Thus, he co-founded the ‘McDonald Oil Company’ and also founded ‘Air Finance Corporation.’

In 1954, he joined ‘Hilton’ as the vice president and was deemed responsible for running the company’s franchise operations. Conrad also laid the foundation of ‘Carte Blanche’ credit card services and made Barron the director of the entire operation.

Barron had bigger plans for the company. In 1959, the newly founded AFL’s Los Angeles team went up for sale, and Barron bought it immediately. He named the team ‘Los Angeles Chargers.’ He also happened to be one of the co-founders of the league.

In 1965, Barron took over as the president of the AFL and presented the possibility of a merger between the AFL and the ‘National Football League’ (NFL), which was later successful, and thus laid the foundation for the ‘Super Bowl.’ During Barron’s ownership of the ‘Los Angeles Chargers’ for six years, his team won one AFL championship and five divisional titles.

In 1966, he was asked by his father to take over the leadership of ‘Hilton Hotels Corporation’ and to put his football dreams aside. Barron sold his shares in the team, which he had bought for a mere 25 thousand dollars, for a whopping 10 million dollars.

Upon becoming the president of the company, he showed his impeccable business sense in cost-control measures and in forming deals in the real-estate arena. In 1970, he managed to convince the board to invest in the booming gambling business in Las Vegas, where gambling had been legal since 1931. He decided to open two casinos in Las Vegas, namely, the ‘Flamingo Hilton’ and the ‘Las Vegas Hilton.’

Conrad Hilton started the ‘Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’ in 1944 to support various causes. He garnered a contribution of gifts worth 7.6 million dollars before his death.

Upon his father’s death, Barron appointed Donald H. Hubbs to look after the foundation. He was one of the closest advisors of both Conrad and Barron. The foundation works for various causes, such as helping nuns, educating disabled children, and preventing drug abuse.

Owing to his keen interest in the aviation industry and his support toward the same, he has been awarded with many honors, such as the ‘FAI Gold Air Medal’ from the ‘Federation Aeronautique Internationale’ in 2009. In 2012, he was introduced into the ‘International Air & Space Hall of Fame.’