Daniel Keith Ludwig: Reclusive Billionaire

Daniel Keith Ludwig wore cheap shoes and eyeglasses, carried a plastic raincoat when it rained, flew economy class, and carried his own bags. Neighbors thought he was a mid-level manager. He was not. Ludwig was one of the wealthiest men, one of the few billionaires in the 1950s. He was reclusive and Time magazine complained that Ludwig was "so publicity-shy that almost nobody knows what he is up to." He was up to many things, with more ships than the Greek tycoons Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos. Ludwig owned potash fields, oil refineries, coal mines, oil companies, luxury hotels and giant master-planned communities. He was also engaged in the largest entrepreneurial effort then undertaken by one man--Jari, a massive effort to convert a large swath of the Amazon to produce lumber and food. It was a disaster, financially and environmentally. Award-winning author and biographical profiler Daniel Alef reveals Ludwig's amazing story. [1,398-word Titans of Fortune article]