RICHMOND -- The Mars family of McLean and John W. Kluge of Albemarle County top Virginia Business magazine's list of the 100 richest people in the state. Forrest E. Mars Jr., 57, and brother John, 54, have a net worth of $5.7 billion, according to the magazine's August issue. The privately held Mars company makes candy, most notably M&Ms, Snickers and Milky War bars. Kluge, 74, whose wealth was placed at $3.8 billion, became chief executive officer of Metromedia in 1959 and in 1984 launched a leveraged buyout from which he personally netted $1.6 billion. Edgar Miles Bronfman, 60, who has homes in Albemarle County and New York, ranks third with a net worth of $1.5 billion. Bronfman is chairman and CEO of Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Inc. and The Seagram Co. Ltd. The state's only other billionaire is Jack Kent Cooke of Middleburg, who owns the Washington Redskins. Cooke, 76, whose wealth was placed at $1 billion, also owns the Chrysler and Kent buildings in New York, the Los Angeles Daily News and a Kentucky horse farm. Topping a half-billion dollars in net worth, according to the magazine, are philanthropist Paul Mellon, 82, of Upperville, $750 million; banker and communications magnate Joe Lewis Allbritton, 64, of Middleburg and Washington, $600 million; and real estate developer Robert Smith, 61, of Crystal City, $600 million. Also checking in with more than $500 million in net worth are Floyd Dewey Gottwald Jr., 67, and Bruce Cobb Gottwald, 55, the Richmond brothers who control Ethyl Corp. The magazine placed their total wealth at $515 million. Laszlo N. Tauber, with a net worth of $500 million, lives in Maryland but works in Alexandria as a surgeon at Jefferson Memorial Hospital. Tauber, 74, a Hungarian-trained physician who came to the United States in 1947, set up a medical practice and then began accumulating his wealth by building office buildings in Washington and leasing them to the federal government. Others on the "Virginia 100" list include media magnate Frank Batten of Virginia Beach, $490 million; the E. Claiborne Robins family of Richmond, $250 million; and Northern Virginia developer John T. Hazel Jr. of Fauquier County, $150 million. At the bottom of the list -- each with a net worth of $30 million -- are James M. Bles of Leesburg, David L. Peebles of Gloucester County and Louis B. Fine of Virginia Beach. In all, the 100 control more than $23 billion, enough to fund the state budget for two years or buy 84 B-2 Stealth bombers at a cost of $274 million each. The magazine based its valuations on public documents such as real estate appraisals and corporate proxy statements as well as earnings and revenue estimates.
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