Eli Broad

He met and fell in love with Edythe "Edye" Lawson while both were at the Michigan State University. The couple got married in 1954 and had two children. They have been happily married for over six decades now.

Eli Broad was born on June 6, 1933, in Bronx, New York City, U.S, to Lithuanian Jewish immigrant parents as their only child. His family was of modest means—his father worked as a house painter, and his mother worked as a dressmaker. The family moved to Detroit, Michigan when Eli was six years old.

He attended Detroit Central High School and graduated in 1951. He moved on to the Michigan State University, majoring in accounting with a minor in economics. He graduated cum laude in 1954. As a college student he worked at a variety of jobs which included selling women’s footwear and working as a drill press operator at Packard Motor. He also acquired the credentials of Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

He started working as an accountant upon the completion of his studies. He also taught night classes at the Detroit Institute of Technology as an assistant professor of accounting in 1956.

After working as an accountant for a while he decided to open his own business—an accounting firm. A relative from his wife’s side, Donald Kaufman, offered him office space and in return Broad promised to do the accounting work at Kaufman’s real estate firm.

Broad and Kaufman got along well and they decided to team up and build homes together in 1957. Broad borrowed some money from his wife’s parents to contribute towards his share of the capital investment and the duo founded the homebuilding company Kaufman & Broad (later shortened to KB Home).

Broad was responsible for land acquisition and materials while Kaufman handled the design. The company soon became successful, designing and building affordable homes for primarily first-time house buyers. Their designs were innovative and cost effective, and within two years Kaufman & Broad had built 600 homes in the Detroit suburbs.

In 1962, the company expanded to Arizona, and a year later to California. Their growing success propelled them to venture into international markets and in 1967 they became the first U.S. homebuilder to expand into France.

Along with Donald Kaufman, Eli Broad founded the homebuilding company Kaufman & Broad in Detroit which has since built over 550,000 homes. The company was a Fortune 500 company from 2000 through 2008 and was named "Most Admired Homebuilder" by ‘Fortune Magazine’ in 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2011.