Dan Gilbert is the 46th wealthiest person in the world, with a net worth of almost $31 billion. But Gilbert is known not only for his wealth, but for his generosity to others, in helping his native city of Detroit, and in overcoming personal adversity.
The 59-year-old is the co-founder of Quicken Loans, America’s largest mortgage lender, founder and chairman of the Rock Family of companies, a portfolio of technology businesses and real estate investments, and chairman of the Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA champions in 2016.
Gilbert moved Quicken’s headquarters to Detroit in 2010, bringing 17,000 employees to downtown Detroit in an effort to revitalize the city. In 2011, he co-founded Detroit-based Bedrock, a real estate firm specializing in acquiring, leasing, financing, and managing commercial and residential space, that has developed more than 100 properties totaling more than 18 million square feet in Detroit and Cleveland.
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Gilbert and his wife Jennifer are signatories to the Giving Pledge, a movement of philanthropists who commit to giving the majority of their wealth to philanthropy or charitable causes, either during their lifetimes or in their wills, created by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.
The couple has five children, and their oldest son was born with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to form on nerve pathways in the body. Gilbert has established neurofibromatosis research clinics at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, and the Dana Children’s Hospital at the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv. In May 2019, Gilbert suffered a stroke, which affected the left side of his body.
In October 2020, Gilbert was awarded the Fred M. Butzel Award, the highest award granted to a Detroit-area Jewish person by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. Gilbert told the Detroit Jewish News at the time, “With my recent physical condition, I just learned what gratitude is because it’s just been a humbling experience.”
In July 2021, he announced a $500 million plan to invest in Detroit neighborhoods, connecting his own rehabilitation with the rebirth of the city of Detroit. Gilbert and his wife operate the Gilbert Family Foundation, which works to find a cure for neurofibromatosis and supports economic stability in the Detroit area.