In this Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011, file photo, Billionaire Eli Broad attends the unveiling of the Broad Art Foundation contemporary art museum designs in Los Angeles. Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist, contemporary art collector and entrepreneur who co-founded homebuilding pioneer Kaufman and Broad Inc. and launched financial services giant SunAmerica Inc., died Friday, April 30, 2021 in Los Angeles. He was 87. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
LOS ANGELES — Tributes were pouring in Saturday for businessman, philanthropist and art collector Eli Broad, who died Friday at the age of 87.
Broad, who left an indelible imprint on Los Angeles’ cultural scene, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center following a long illness, according to Suzi Emmerling, spokeswoman for the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.
“As a businessman Eli saw around corners, as a philanthropist he saw the problems in the world and tried to fix them, as a citizen he saw the possibility in our shared community, and as a husband, father and friend he saw the potential in each of us,” said Gerun Riley, president of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.
“Los Angeles has lost a true giant tonight, and I’ve lost a dear friend and cherished philanthropic partner,” Wallis Annenberg, chairman of the board, president and CEO of the Annenberg Foundation, said Friday night. “There won’t be another Eli Broad — someone with a bold vision of what this city could be, and the brilliance and sheer force of will to make it happen. In so many ways, he remade L.A. — and I was fortunate to work closely with him on so many of the goals we shared. I’ll miss him terribly, and my heart goes out to Edye and Jeffrey and Gary. But as enormous a loss as this is for me, I know his good works and his legacy will be with us for a long, long time.”
Eli Broad, founder of SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home speaks after receiving the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
Philanthropist Eli Broad, left, and his wife Edythe pose on the press line at the opening gala celebration of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA in Los Angeles on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)
Eli Broad, Founder, The Broad poses during a press conference and hard-hat tour of Los Angeles’ new museum, The Broad, on Tuesday, September 17, 2013, in Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo by Ryan Miller/Invision/AP)
From left, Eli Broad, Founder, The Broad talks with Hon. Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles during a press conference and hard-hat tour of Los Angeles’ new museum, The Broad, on Tuesday, September 17, 2013, in Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo by Ryan Miller/Invision/AP)
Eli Broad, co-chairman of the Grand Avenue Committee, looks at a model after the unveiling of the design for phase one of the $1.8 billion Grand Avenue revitalization effort on Monday, April 24, 2006, in Los Angeles. The project is intended to bring night life to an area that is nearly deserted after office workers go home. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Opera star Placido Domingo, left, director of the Los Angeles Opera, and Edyhte and Eli Broad announce that the company will present Richard Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” thanks to a $6 million donation from the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Foundation, during a news conference on the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006, in Los Angeles. This will be the first time Wagner’s epic four-part opera will be presented in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Billionaire Eli Broad speaks at a news conference Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, at University of California, Los Angeles Biomedical Sciences Research Building in Los Angeles. Broad donated 20 million dollars to UCLA for stem cell research. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Billionaire Eli Broad, left, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa share a laugh during a news conference Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, at University of California, Los Angeles Biomedical Sciences Research Building in Los Angeles. Broad donated 20 million dollars to UCLA for stem cell research. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Billionaire Eli Broad attends the 2009 National Arts Awards presented by Americans for the Arts at Cipriani’s 42nd Street on Monday, Oct. 5, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
Actor Dennis Hopper, left, and billionaire Eli Broad attend the 2009 National Arts Awards presented by Americans for the Arts at Cipriani’s 42nd Street on Monday, Oct. 5, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
From left, Eli and Edythe Broad, co-founders, The Broad pose during a press conference and hard-hat tour of Los Angeles’ new museum, The Broad, on Tuesday, September 17, 2013, in Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo by Ryan Miller/Invision/AP)
Billionaire Eli Broad during the unveiling of the Broad Art Foundation contemporary art museum designs in Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011. The Billionaire’s planned downtown Los Angeles contemporary art museum is a three-story, $130 million honeycomb structure. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad speaks during a presentation at a hard-hat tour of his half-completed museum, “The Broad,” in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013. Broad said he wants to make his vast, collection of contemporary art accessible to the largest number of people possible by making admission free to the $140 million museum he’s building in downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
FILE – In this Sept. 17, 2014 file photo, billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad speaks during a presentation of his half-completed museum, “The Broad” in Los Angeles. A foundation started by Broad has suspended a national prize, Broad Prize for Urban Education, awarded annually to a top-performing urban school system. The $1 million prize was pulled amid concerns that the schools are failing to improve quickly enough. (AP Photo/Nick Ut,File)
In this Nov. 9, 2012 photo, Eli Broad and his wife Edythe Broad, center, meet with Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Smith during a tour of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum on the MSU campus in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
From left, Eli Broad, Edythe Broad, Pat York and actor Michael York pose during The Un-Private Collection: Jeff Koons and John Waters, an art talk co-presented by The Broad museum and the Library Foundation of Los Angeles’s ALOUD series and held at the Orpheum Theatre on Tuesday, February 24, 2014 in Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo by Ryan Miller / Invision/AP)
From left, Hon. Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles; Edythe and Eli Broad, co-founders, The Broad and Joanne Heyler, Founding Director, The Broad pose during a press conference and hard-hat tour of Los Angeles’ new museum, The Broad, on Tuesday, September 17, 2013, in Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo by Ryan Miller/Invision/AP)
In a Nov. 9, 2012 photo Eli Broad is seen at the opening of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Eli Broad and his wife Edythe take a walk through his new museum called “The Broad” in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. Broad gives his latest gift to Los Angeles when The Broad, a $140 million museum built to hold some of the greatest pop-art works ever created, opens on Sept. 20, in the city’s burgeoning downtown cultural center. The Broad contains some 2,000 pieces from its founder’s personal collection. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
This Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015 photo shows a pedestrian walks past the new Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles. Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad gives his latest gift to Los Angeles when The Broad, a $140 million museum built to hold some of the greatest pop-art works ever created, opens on Sept. 20, in the city’s burgeoning downtown cultural center. Located across the street from the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art and next door to its Walt Disney Concert Hall,The Broad contains some 2,000 pieces from its founder’s personal collection. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad and his wife, Edythe pose for a photo at the civic dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Broad museum downtown Los Angeles Friday, Sept. 18, 2015. Eli Broad gives his latest gift to Los Angeles when The Broad, a $140 million museum built to hold some of the greatest pop-art works ever created, opens on Sept. 20. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Eli Broad, founder of The Broad museum, poses at the museum’s opening and inaugural gala on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
From left, Elizabeth Diller, Founding Principal, Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Joanne Heyler, Founding Director, The Broad; Eli Broad, Founder, The Broad and Hon. Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles take a closer look at the skylights during a press conference and hard-hat tour of Los Angeles’ new museum, The Broad, on Tuesday, September 17, 2013, in Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo by Ryan Miller/Invision/AP)
From left, John Waters, Eli Broad, Edythe Broad, Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Koons pose during The Un-Private Collection: Jeff Koons and John Waters, an art talk co-presented by The Broad museum and the Library Foundation of Los Angeles’s ALOUD series and held at the Orpheum Theatre on Tuesday, February 24, 2014 in Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo by Ryan Miller / Invision/AP)
Eli Broad, Founder, The Broad takes a tour during a press conference and hard-hat tour of Los Angeles’ new museum, The Broad, on Tuesday, September 17, 2013, in Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo by Ryan Miller/Invision/AP)
This Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015 photo shows a pedestrian walking past the new Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles. Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad gives his latest gift to Los Angeles when The Broad, a $140 million museum built to hold some of the greatest pop-art works ever created, opens on Sept. 20, in the city’s burgeoning downtown cultural center. Located across the street from the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art and next door to its Walt Disney Concert Hall,The Broad contains some 2,000 pieces from its founder’s personal collection. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
In a Nov. 9, 2012 photo, Eli Broad and his wife Edythe Broad, center, and Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Smith right, tour the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum on the MSU campus in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Eli Broad, right, founder of The Broad museum, arrives with his wife Edythe at the museum’s opening on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
From left, Sen. Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles), Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar, the Broad founding Director/Chief Curator, Joanne Heyler, joined Eli Broad and his wife, Edythe Broad, with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Gov. Jerry Brown at the civic dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Broad museum downtown Los Angeles Friday, Sept. 18, 2015. Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad gives his latest gift to Los Angeles when The Broad, a $140 million museum built to hold some of the greatest pop-art works ever created, opens on Sept. 20. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
From left, Eli and Edythe Broad, co-founders, The Broad pose during a press conference and hard-hat tour of Los Angeles’ new museum, The Broad, on Tuesday, September 17, 2013, in Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo by Ryan Miller/Invision/AP)
Philanthropist Eli Broad speaks during a press preview for an exhibition of Cindy Sherman at The Broad Museum in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 8, 2016. The Broad’s first special exhibition, “Cindy Sherman: Imitation of Life,” opens June 11, and will feature more than 120 works by the artist. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Philanthropist Eli Broad speaks during a press preview for an exhibition of Cindy Sherman at The Broad Museum in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 8, 2016. The exhibition, “Cindy Sherman: Imitation of Life,” opens June 11, 2016 and will feature more than 120 works by the artist, including works never before seen in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, right, is joined by architect Frank Gehry during a groundbreaking ceremony for The Grand, a long-delayed massive development in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Broad told attendees Monday that the project stems from a vision of Grand Avenue becoming the arts, cultural and civic district for the region. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, arrives for a groundbreaking ceremony for The Grand, a long-delayed massive development in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Broad told attendees Monday that the project stems from a vision of Grand Avenue becoming the arts, cultural and civic district for the region. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, arrives for a groundbreaking ceremony for The Grand, a long-delayed massive development in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Broad told attendees Monday that the project stems from a vision of Grand Avenue becoming the arts, cultural and civic district for the region. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, arrives for a groundbreaking ceremony for The Grand, a long-delayed massive development in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Broad told attendees Monday that the project stems from a vision of Grand Avenue becoming the arts, cultural and civic district for the region. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Architect Frank Gehry, right, shares a lighter moment with billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, center, prior to a groundbreaking ceremony for The Grand, a long-delayed massive development in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Broad told attendees Monday that the project stems from a vision of Grand Avenue becoming the arts, cultural and civic district for the region. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
FILE – In this Sept. 16, 2015 file photo, Eli Broad and his wife, Edythe, stand for a photo amid Jeff Koons sculptures at his new museum called “The Broad” in downtown Los Angeles. Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist, contemporary art collector and entrepreneur who co-founded homebuilding pioneer Kaufman and Broad Inc. and launched financial services giant SunAmerica Inc., died Friday, April 30, 2021 in Los Angeles. He was 87. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
FILE – In this Sept. 16, 2015 file photo Eli Broad poses for a photo at his museum, “The Broad” in downtown Los Angeles. Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist, contemporary art collector and entrepreneur who co-founded homebuilding pioneer Kaufman and Broad Inc. and launched financial services giant SunAmerica Inc., died Friday, April 30, 2021 in Los Angeles. He was 87. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
FILE – In this July 26, 2012, file photo, Philantrophist Eli Broad smiles as puts his shoes back on, after an official barefoot walk in the opening of the fountain at Grand Park in Los Angeles. Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist, contemporary art collector and entrepreneur who co-founded homebuilding pioneer Kaufman and Broad Inc. and launched financial services giant SunAmerica Inc., died Friday, April 30, 2021 in Los Angeles. He was 87. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
In this Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011, file photo, Billionaire Eli Broad attends the unveiling of the Broad Art Foundation contemporary art museum designs in Los Angeles. Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist, contemporary art collector and entrepreneur who co-founded homebuilding pioneer Kaufman and Broad Inc. and launched financial services giant SunAmerica Inc., died Friday, April 30, 2021 in Los Angeles. He was 87. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
FILE – In this Sept. 17, 2015, file photo, Eli Broad, right, founder of The Broad museum, arrives with his wife Edythe at the museum’s opening in Los Angeles. Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist, contemporary art collector and entrepreneur who co-founded homebuilding pioneer Kaufman and Broad Inc. and launched financial services giant SunAmerica Inc., died Friday, April 30, 2021 in Los Angeles. He was 87. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
FILE – In this Oct. 17, 2007, file photo, Eli Broad, founder of SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home speaks after receiving the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in Pittsburgh. Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist, contemporary art collector and entrepreneur who co-founded homebuilding pioneer Kaufman and Broad Inc. and launched financial services giant SunAmerica Inc., died Friday, April 30, 2021 in Los Angeles. He was 87. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)
FILE – In this Sept. 4, 2008, file photo, Los Angeles Philanthropist Eli Broad, left, shakes hands with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, right, at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass., after Broad announced that he and his wife Edythe Broad were donating an additional $400 million to the biomedical institute. Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist, contemporary art collector and entrepreneur who co-founded homebuilding pioneer Kaufman and Broad Inc. and launched financial services giant SunAmerica Inc., died Friday, April 30, 2021 in Los Angeles. He was 87. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds, File)
FILE – In this Dec. 23, 2008 file photo, billionaire Eli Broad poses for a picture outside the MOCA museum downtown Los Angeles. Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist, contemporary art collector and entrepreneur who co-founded homebuilding pioneer Kaufman and Broad Inc. and launched financial services giant SunAmerica Inc., died Friday, April 30, 2021 in Los Angeles. He was 87. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
Eli Broad, co-chairman of the Grand Avenue Committee, left, joins Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, center, and architect Frank Gehry to unveil the design for phase one of the $1.8 billion Grand Avenue revitalization effort on Monday, April 24, 2006, in Los Angeles. The project is intended to bring night life to an area that is nearly deserted after office workers go home. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
A New York native, Broad parlayed a loan from his in-laws into a homebuilding empire with partner Donald Kaufman that began in Detroit in the late 1950s but migrated to Los Angeles in 1963. That company, Kaufman and Broad Home Corp., grew into what is now known as KB Home.
In the 1970s, he acquired Sun Life Insurance Company for $52 million. The company, which eventually became known as SunAmerica, was sold to American International Insurance Group in 1998 for $17.8 billion.
Broad was the first person to develop two Fortune 500 companies in different industries. Forbes estimated Broad’s net worth at $6.7 billion two years ago.
Selling SunAmerica allowed Broad to focus on philanthropy. The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation was founded in 1999, with an endowment that eventually topped $2 billion. Over the years, the foundation invested more than $600 million in public education in the Southland and in cities including Boston, New York, Chicago, Denver and Detroit.
The Broad Prize for Urban Education continues to honor school districts for academic performance, and has provided $16 million in scholarships to more than 1,200 students.
Broad was also dedicated to scientific and medical research, as well as the arts, supporting scientists, museums and public schools across the country. An avid collector, The Broad museum in downtown Los Angeles houses the Broads’ collection of more than 2,000 artworks.
His name also adorns The Broad Center at Yale School of Management, a development program for public school system leaders, and the Broad Institute, a genomic medical research center founded with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
With more than $100 million in donations, he established stem cell research centers at UCLA, USC and UC San Francisco. He also donated more than $50 million to his alma mater, Michigan State University, to establish college and graduate schools of business and to create a contemporary art museum.
He was a founding chairman of the Museum of Contemporary Art and a major benefactor of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, the LA Opera and The Broad Stage.
“Eli really created such an opportunity for, in particular, my generation of artists,” said artist Jeffrey Koons, who is famous in part for his large stainless steel sculptures of balloon animals, including his first one, “Balloon Dog,” which was funded in part by Broad and now resides at the late collector’s eponymous downtown museum.
“He and Edye started collecting early, but they focused on contemporary, and I think when they built the Broad, they really created a major museum in the United States for the generation of artists that I’m a part of,” Koons continued. “Eli was such an amazing philanthropist in the arts, but he also communicated to everyone that being of service to people — it’s not only arts but science and education and all the areas of philanthropy that he was involved with. He was just an amazing role model and friend, and somebody of a generation before us that we could look up to.”
Broad was also active politically in recent years, pouring money into political campaigns, with a particular eye on climate change, voter rights and a wealth tax.
He retired from public work in October of 2017.
In a recent op-ed for The New York Times, he wrote: “Two decades ago I turned full-time to philanthropy and threw myself into supporting public education, scientific and medical research, and visual and performing arts, believing it was my responsibility to give back some of what had so generously been given to me.
“But I’ve come to realize that no amount of philanthropic commitment will compensate for the deep inequities preventing most Americans — the factory workers and farmers, entrepreneurs and electricians, teachers, nurses and small-business owners — from the basic prosperity we call the American dream. … Our country must do something bigger and more radical, starting with the most unfair area of federal policy: our tax code. … The enormous challenges we face as a nation — the climate crisis, the shrinking middle class, skyrocketing housing and health care costs, and many more — are a stark call to action. The old ways aren’t working, and we can’t waste any more time tinkering around the edges.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein said “few people had more of an impact on the city of Los Angeles than Eli Broad. His philanthropic work influenced fields as diverse as education, science, health care and the arts.
“Eli’s generosity is responsible for research programs, schools, museums and other efforts designed to make Los Angeles and California a better place to live. He called himself ‘A builder,’ and that’s the legacy Eli leaves behind,” Feinstein continued.
“Eli Broad, simply put, was L.A.’s most influential private citizen of his generation,” Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted. “He loved this city as deeply as anyone I have ever known.”
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said Broad “loved his adopted city and through his generosity, helped transform L.A.’s physical and cultural landscape and make it the capital of arts and culture it is today.”
Reactions to Broad’s death came from the Hollywood community as well.
“Eli Broad had died. As we all try to make our way through this world connecting, our hearts, minds and reaching out our hands to make this world better than we found it, this man dedicated his entire life to the arts and the world is so much better for it,” actress Jamie Lee Curtis tweeted.
Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said Broad “pushed all of us to do better, to dig deeper, to invest more and to invest smarter to make Los Angeles a global epicenter for innovation and culture.
“He championed catalytic transformation in the arts and education fields, including creating countless opportunities for young people to advance in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” Ridley-Thomas said.
“I will forever be grateful for his commitment to addressing homelessness, as a major backer of Measure H, which was approved by voters in 2017 and generates over $350 million each year to prevent and respond to the moral crisis of our time.”
Broad is survived by his wife Edythe, and his two sons Jeffrey and Gary.
