AGE: 47 OCCUPATION: Cofounder and managing partner, The Pritzker Group; founder and investor, New World Ventures

With a net worth of $2.5 billion, according to Forbes, the affable Gold Coast Democrat is the richest of the Chicago Pritzkers and the one who stands out for creating valuable new businesses of his own. He has become one of the most prominent private equity investors in the Midwest. Like his sister Penny (No. 8), he is also a philanthropic force: He drove the $45 million capital campaign for the Stanley Tigerman–designed Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie.

MORE ON PRITZKER: J. B. Pritzker on New World Ventures, the Pritzker Group, and More | Our 2002 profile of the Pritzker dynasty

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Photograph: Bob Stefko