J. Paul Getty: The Dysfunctional Billionaire (Titans of Fortune)

Biographical profile of J. Paul Getty, one of America’s first billionaires. J. Paul Getty, the richest man in the world in the mid twentieth century, was a consummate businessman who built an oil empire and left a vast antiquities and art collection as his legacy. But he also was a womanizer, a miser, stingy with his closest friends and a completely dysfunctional parent. He made his first million by the age of 24 and immediately retired to engage in a life of debauchery and licentiousness. However, when his father died, Getty was back in the game after gaining control of his father's company, George Getty Oil. Getty went on to dominate the oil industry, building a veritable empire that stretched across the globe into the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. An inveterate risk taker, Getty was willing to compete with the Seven Sisters, the seven largest oil companies in the world, and win. In 1954 he established the Getty Museum in Pacific Palisades, CA, which now has a second home, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, CA. Remarkably, from the date it was opened until his death in 1976, Getty never set foot in his museum, ostensibly because he was afraid to fly. Award-winning author Daniel Alef tells the story of the oil billionaire who was not present at the operating table when his youngest son died at age 12, but flew in the world's best surgeons when his favorite dog needed medical care for a tumor--a tale of great success in business and utter failure as a human being. [1,512-word Titans of Fortune article]