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Who

Stern is the founder of Hartz Mountain Industries, one of the largest privately-held real estate companies in the U.S. with more than 38 million square feet of office, industrial, hotel and retail property in New York and New Jersey.

Backstory

Cats and dogs built the Stern real estate empire: Leonard's father, Max, emigrated from Germany in the 1920s with 2,100 singing canaries, which he parlayed over the years into the nation's preeminent pet supply company. By the time Leonard joined the family business in 1959, though, it had fallen on hard times. He bought out his siblings and took full control, building the company back into a powerhouse and reestablishing it as a leader in food and accessories for dogs, cats, fish, and hamsters.

In the late 1960s, Stern made his first real estate acquisition, paying $10 million for a huge swath of the then-undeveloped Meadowlands. By the late '80s, the investment had paid for itself a hundred times over and he expanded his real estate holdings with acquisitions in both New Jersey and Manhattan. It was also in the '80s that he took a detour into media, acquiring the Village Voice from Rupert Murdoch for $55 million and eventually amassing a portfolio that included LA Weekly, Seattle Weekly, Cleveland Free Press, and the short-lived Adam Moss-edited 7 Days.

In 2000, Stern sold off his publishing assets for an estimated $150 million and Hartz's pet food operations for $250 million, leaving real estate as Hartz's exclusive focus.

Currently

Stern's privately-held company owns over 200 buildings, many of them large retail outlets in New Jersey. He also controls nearly a dozen hotels, including two fashionable venues in Manhattan (the SoHo Grand and the Tribeca Grand) as well as more downmarket lodgings in New Jersey like the Doubletree in Jersey City. The crown jewel in his portfolio is the 25-story, 250,000-square-foot office building 667 Madison, which boasts some of the highest commercial rents in the city. Leonard's own office is located in on the 26th floor of the tower.

Keeping score

Stern is the 79th richest man in the U.S. according to Forbes, with an estimated net worth of $4.1 billion.

Legal file

The Stern family has spent plenty of time on the phone with their attorneys over the years. In the 1970s and '80s, Hartz was charged with violating various anti-trust laws, and in one of the more salacious allegations at the time, he was accused of paying prostitutes to "encourage" pet store managers to carry Hartz products exclusively. More recently, Leonard's son, Edward, was in the middle of a messy scandal when Eliot Spitzer accused his hedge fund, Canary Capital, of making fraudulent mutual fund trades. (Canary manages much of the Stern fortune.) Famed attorney Gary Naftalis defended Edward and he ended up settling the case by paying a $40 million fine.

Pet cause

New York University renamed its graduate and undergraduate business schools in Stern's honor in the late 1980s after he wrote the school a check for $25 million. Some speculated that the donation was intended to drum up positive press after his well-publicized anti-trust scandal. (Interestingly, he doesn't recommend b-school: "I think business school is a waste of time.") More recently, Stern donated $7 million to the Wildlife Conservation Society in 2007 to fund the Central Park Zoo.

Personal

Leonard has been married to his second wife, Allison Maher Stern, since 1987. (A Kentucky-born former model, Allison appears in the poster for Jaws about to be consumed by a shark.) With his first wife, Judith, Stern has three kids: Emanuel "Manny" Stern, who runs the real estate side of the business; Edward, who continues to manage family money as part of his fund; and a daughter, Andrea Stern, who is a photographer. Leonard and Allison live in a five-story mansion on Fifth Avenue decorated with works by Van Gogh and Modigliani. They're also building a nine-bedroom, 18,000-square-foot manse in Southampton, on land Leonard purchased for $20 million several years ago. His next-door neighbor will be Howard Stern who, incidentally, is no relation.

Toys

Stern's spectacular 150-foot yacht is named "Lady Allison" in his wife's honor. It operates with a crew of ten, can accommodate 12 guests, and is usually docked in the Virgin Islands.