Eli Broad Biography

Eli Broad was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist who built KB Home, a homebuilding company, and SunAmerica, an insurance corporation, becoming the only person to build two Fortune 500 companies in different industries. Famous for his unconventional ways of conducting business, he cultivated an image for being “completely unreasonable”. He credited his unreasonable ways for his phenomenal success which he believed he would have never achieved had he chosen to stick with the accepted conventions in business. Born to Lithuanian Jewish immigrant parents in the United States, he was raised in a middle-class home. In spite of his modest upbringing, he harbored ambitious dreams from a young age. A good student, he graduated from Detroit Central High School and went on to study accountancy and economics at the Michigan State University. He had to work very hard to provide for himself while still studying and worked at a number of odd jobs to make ends meet. After working for a couple of years he decided to open his own business and teamed up with a relative to start KB Home which proved to be a highly successful venture. Encouraged by its success, Broad acquired Sun Life Insurance Company of America and transformed it into SunAmerica. He also devoted a lot of time and energy to philanthropic efforts along with his wife.