Steven Rales
Rales in 2016
Born (1951-03-31) March 31, 1951
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
Education
Occupations
TitleFounder, Danaher and Indian Paintbrush
Spouses
  • Christine Plank
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1983; div. 2003)​
  • Lalage Damerell
    ​
    (m. 2012)​
Children3
FamilyMitchell Rales (brother)

Steven M. Rales (born March 31, 1951) is an American businessman and film producer. He founded Danaher Corporation in 1984 with his brother Mitchell Rales and is chairman of the board. Rales also founded the film production company Indian Paintbrush in 2006, which works closely with filmmaker Wes Anderson. Rales' net worth was estimated by Forbes in July 2023 to be over $7.3 billion.

Early life and education

Raised in a Jewish family,[1] Rales is one of four sons of Ruth (née Abramson) and Norman Rales.[2] His father was raised in an orphanage, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in New York City, and became a businessman, who sold his building supply company in Washington, D.C. to his employees in what was the first employee stock ownership plan transaction in the US.[3] His father was also a philanthropist, founding the Norman and Ruth Rales Foundation and the Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service.[4][5]

In 1969, Rales graduated from Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland.[6] In 1973, he graduated from DePauw University, where he was in the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. In 1978, he received a Juris Doctor (JD) degree from American University.

Career

In 1979, he left his father's real estate firm to found Equity Group Holdings with his brother Mitchell Rales. Using junk bonds, they bought a diversified line of businesses: first Mastershield, a vinyl siding manufacturer, then Mohawk Rubber Company, then Diversified Mortgage Group. They changed the name to Diversified Mortgage Investors, in 1978, and then Danaher in 1984.[7] He has served as Danaher's Chairman of the Board since January 1984.[8] In 1985, they bought Easco Corporation, the then-largest independent aluminum extrusion manufacturer and hand tool manufacturer which produced the Craftsman brand of sockets and wrenches for Sears.

In 1988, they made a hostile takeover bid for Interco, a conglomerate comprising manufacturers as diverse as Converse shoes and Ethan Allen furniture.[9][10] When the company responded with a poison pill, they sued, and prevailed in court.[11] They later ended the bid after five months with a profit of $60 million.[12]

In 1992, the AM side of WGMS was sold off to the Rales brothers who converted the music station into the first frequency for WTEM, the first full-time sports talk radio station in the Washington metropolitan area. He and his brother founded Colfax Corporation in 1995, an industrial pumps manufacturer based in Richmond, Virginia. In 2008, Rales engineered the initial public offering of the company.[13] His net worth was estimated by Forbes in July 2023 to be $7.3 billion.[14]

Indian Paintbrush

Rales founded the film production company Indian Paintbrush in 2006. The company works frequently with filmmaker Wes Anderson, producing films such as Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Isle of Dogs.[15][16]

List of films produced by Rales
Year Title
2007 The Darjeeling Limited
2009 Fantastic Mr. Fox
2011 Like Crazy
2012 Jeff, Who Lives at Home
Young Adult
Moonrise Kingdom
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Not Fade Away
2013 Breathe In
Stoker
Trance
Labor Day
2014 The Grand Budapest Hotel
2015 Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
2018 Isle of Dogs
2021 The French Dispatch
2023 Asteroid City
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Personal life

Rales with his wife Lalage in 2016

Rales was married to Christine Plank from 1983 to 2003.[17][18] They have three children: Alexander, Gregory, and Stephanie.[19][20][21] He married Lalage Damerell in 2012, the mother of writer and former CIA officer Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, who is married to Robert F. Kennedy III, oldest son of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a grandson of U.S. attorney general and senator Robert F. Kennedy.

Rales was a major donor in the 2002 dedication of the Peeler Art Center at DePauw.[22]

References

  1. ↑ Washington Jewish Week: "Five local Jews make Forbes richest list" Archived September 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine October 7, 2009
  2. ↑ "Obituary On Sunday, March 28, 2004, Ruth Rales, of Hillsboro Beach, FL and Potomac, MD". The Washington Post. March 30, 2004.
  3. ↑ "Remembering Norman R. Rales 1923-2012". Jewish Family Service. March 15, 2012. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  4. ↑ Sun Sentinel: "Norman Rales, orphan to wealthy businessman and philanthropist, is dead at 88" By Lisa J. Huriash March 15, 2012
  5. ↑ Jewish Family Service: "Ruth Rales, 81, Philanthropist by Tal Abbady April 1, 2004
  6. ↑ Murphy, Carolyn and Lynn Stander (September 2005). "We Knew Them When". Bethesda Magazine. Archived from the original on August 20, 2008.
  7. ↑ "Steven Rales". Forbes. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Steven M. Rales". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 9, 2009.
  9. ↑ David A. Vise; Steve Coll (August 23, 1988). "The Rales Brothers Play for Big Stakes; Little-Known Area Family Builds an Industrial Empire". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ "COMPANY NEWS; Request on Interco". The New York Times. August 4, 1988.
  11. ↑ Patrick A. Gaughan (2002). Mergers, Acquisitions, and Corporate Restructurings. John Wiley and Sons. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-471-23729-7.
  12. ↑ "COMPANY NEWS; Rales Brothers Sell Their Interco Stake". The New York Times. December 16, 1988.
  13. ↑ Thomas Heath (July 7, 2008). "The Quiet Dynamism of the Brothers Rales". The Washington Post.
  14. ↑ "Steven Rales". Forbes. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  15. ↑ Eisler, Kim (December 11, 2007). "What's a DC Billionaire Doing Aboard The Darjeeling Limited?". Washingtonian.com. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Wes Anderson, Focus Features, And Indian Paintbrush Reunite On Asteroid City". Focus Features. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  17. ↑ Washingtonian Magazine: "Best Places To Live" by Kimberly Palmer And Mollie Reilly May 2012
  18. ↑ DePauw University: Peeler Art Center Dedicated as Donor Remembers the Building's Namesake, Her Former Professor October 11, 2002
  19. ↑ Find A Case: CHRISTINE P. RALES, APPELLANT v. STEVEN M. RALES, APPELLEE September 28, 2006
  20. ↑ The Ron Brown Scholar Program:Remembering Norman R. Rales - 2010 American Journey Award Recipient" March 13, 2012
  21. ↑ Hartford Courant: In the Matter of Marilyn Plank July 11, 2007
  22. ↑ Peeler Art Center Dedicated as Donor Remembers the Building's Namesake, Her Former Professor, DePauw University Archived January 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
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