Hunts, Basses among Texans on Forbes richest families list
The Hunts of Dallas are richer than the Basses of Fort Worth, but the Duncans in Houston are the state’s wealthiest family.
So says Forbes magazine in its second annual list of 200 richest American families, which looks at multigenerational wealth across the country. (Individual first-generation riches, such as Warren Buffett’s, are not included.)
The Duncan family includes the four children of the late Dan Duncan, the man behind the Enterprise Products Partners pipeline company in Houston. The family has an estimated net worth of $22.4 billion, ranking it No. 10 on the list.
The Hunt family in Dallas, descendants of oil wildcatter H.L. Hunt, is tops in North Texas with a fortune estimated at $14.2 billion, ranking No. 15 nationwide. The magazine lists the family as having 34 members.
The Bass brothers — Sid, Robert, Ed and Lee — are the only Fort Worth family on the list, ranking No. 29 with a net worth estimated at $8.2 billion.
Oil and gas development has been the prime source of wealth for Texas’ richest families, but other fortunes have been made in supermarkets (the Butt family behind H-E-B and Central Market), cosmetics (the Rogers family, with Mary Kay), hamburgers (the Dobsons, with Whataburger) and sporting goods (the Gochmans, with Academy).
The Waltons are the nation’s richest dynastic family, with wealth estimated at $149 billion. And we can claim a piece of that with Alice Walton, the richest Texan, living at her horse ranch west of Fort Worth. The Koch family is No. 2 with $86 billion.
Steve Kaskovich, 817-390-7773
Richest Texas families
No. 10, Duncan, Houston, $22.4 billion, pipelines
No. 15, Hunt, Dallas, $14.2 billion, oil
No. 24, Butt, San Antonio, $10.4 billion, supermarkets
No. 26, Marshall, Dallas, $9 billion, oil, investments
No. 29, Bass, Fort Worth, $8.2 billion, oil, investments
No. 39, Chao, Houston, $7.2 billion, chemicals
No. 56, Perot, Dallas, $5.4 billion, investments
No. 70, Friedkin, Houston, $4.1 billion, auto distribution
No. 93, Fasken, Midland, $3 billion, oil
No. 103, Dobson, San Antonio, $2.6 billion, Whataburger
No. 109, Gochman, Katy, $2.5 billion, Academy Sporting Goods
No. 139, Mitchell, The Woodlands, $1.8 billion, oil
No. 139, Walter, Houston, $1.8 billion, oil and gas
No. 149, Rogers, Addison, $1.7 billion, Mary Kay
No. 163, Cullen, Houston, $1.5 billion, oil, coal
No. 174, Westerman, Addison, $1.4 billion, oil
No. 179, Briscoe, Uvalde, $1.3 billion, ranch land
No. 193, Colburn, Irving, $1.2 billion, electric distributor
Source: Forbes magazine
This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 11:32 AM.