Bruce Halle
Bruce Halle | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 27, 1930 |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | Eastern Michigan University |
| Spouse | Married |
| Children | 4 |
Bruce Halle (born May 27, 1930) is an American businessman and the founder and chairman of Discount Tire.[2][3] He is the wealthiest person in Phoenix, Arizona. [4]
Early life
Bruce Halle was born on May 27, 1930, in Springfield, Massachusetts.[2] He graduated from Eastern Michigan University.[2][3]
Career
In 1960, he opened a tire store in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[2] It later became known as Discount Tire, and grew to over 900 stores in 28 states by 2014.[2]
As of 2014, he was the 248th richest person in the world, 87th richest in the US, and richest in Arizona, with an estimated wealth of US$6 billion.[5]
Philanthropy
Through the Bruce T. Halle Family Foundation, he has made charitable donations to the Diane Halle Center for Family Justice at Arizona State University and to the Children First Academy, the nation's largest school for homeless children.[2] He has also made donations to the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Liver Foundation, the American Red Cross, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Childhelp, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.[3]
In Arizona, he supports the Arizona Boys and Girls Clubs, the Arizona Opera League, the Phoenix Symphony, the Scottsdale Symphony, the Crisis Nursery, the Arizona Kidney Foundation, Phoenix Children’s Hospital. He was the first to pledge charter membership of the Children's Urban Survival Program in Phoenix.[3] The Bruce T. Halle Library on his alma mater campus is named for him.
He has a collection of 400 unique lithographs from the earliest days of tire advertisements.[2][6] The Diane and Bruce Halle Collection is a private collection of 20th- and 21st-century art from Latin America based in Scottsdale, Arizona.[7]
In 2016, he donated one million dollars to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy in an effort to stop cannabis legalization in Arizona.[8]
Personal life
He is married with four children, and lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona.[2][9]
References
- ^ Forbes: The World's Billionaires: "Bruce Halle" March 2015
- ^ a b c d e f g h Forbes profile
- ^ a b c d Eastern Michigan University biography
- ^ http://www3.forbes.com/lists/the-richest-person-in-americas-50-largest-cities/36/
- ^ http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/
- ^ Edwin Lurgy, 'Bruce Halle On His Passion For Antique Tire Art', in Forbes, Sep 22, 2011 [1]
- ^ Aspen Ideas Festival
- ^ Stern, Ray (17 October 2016). "Discount Tire Boycott Movement Grows as Owner Donates $1M to Keep Marijuana a Felony". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
- ^ Dawson Fearnow, 'Valley’s Richest Revealed', in Desert Living Today, March 10, 2011 [2]