James Leprino

James Leprino (born 1937/38) is an American billionaire, businessman, and chairman of the world's largest manufacturer of mozzarella cheese, Leprino Foods[3][2]. He was listed as the 265th richest person in the US with a net worth of $3.1 billion, according to the 2017 Forbes 400 list.[4]

James Leprino
Born1937/1938 (age 82–83)[1]
NationalityAmerican
OccupationChairman and CEO, Leprino Foods
Net worthUS$3.2 billion (October 2017)[2]
Spouse(s)married
Children2
Parent(s)Mike Leprino Sr.

Early life

James Leprino was born circa 1938.[2] He is the youngest of five children of Mike Leprino Sr., who emigrated from Italy in 1914, aged 16, settled in Denver, and was a farm worker before starting a grocery store in Denver's Little Italy in 1950.[5][1]

Career

After graduating from high school in 1956, he worked full-time with his father, but due to pressure from large grocery chains, his father's store closed in 1958, so he started Leprino Foods with $615, focusing on making cheese for pizza, sales of which were booming.[1]

Leprino is the chairman and CEO of Leprino Foods, the largest manufacturer of mozzarella cheese in the world.[2] In October 2017, his net worth was estimated by Forbes at US$3.1 billion.[2]

He supplies major pizza chains including Pizza Hut, Domino's, Papa John's and Little Caesars, and controls up to 85% of the US pizza cheese market.[1]

Personal life

Leprino is married with two children.[2] He resides in Indian Hills, Colorado.[2]

Political lobbying and support

From 1990 to 2017, Leprino Foods contributed $1,521,894 to political lobbying and with 75 to 80 percent of all Leprino political contributions going to Republicans."[6]

References
  1. Chloe Sorvino. "This Secretive Billionaire Makes The Cheese For Pizza Hut, Domino's And Papa John's". Forbes.com. Retrieved 2017-07-10.
  2. "#211 James Leprino". Forbes. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  3. "Denver's big cheese".
  4. "Leprino". forbes.com. Forbes. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  5. "Knopf: Why does Colorado make it so hard for immigrant to get driverБ─≥s licenses? (column)". SummitDaily.com. Retrieved 2017-07-10.
  6. Njegomir, Dan (25 May 2017). "Colorado's most reclusive billionaire isn't shy about supporting the GOP". Colorado Politics. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.