LOS ANGELES: Eli Broad, the billionaire entrepreneur turned philanthropist and art collector who played an outsized role in shaping the art and cultural scene of Los Angeles, died on Friday at the age of 87.
Broad passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles following a long illness, said Suzi Emmerling, a spokeswoman for the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.
An accountant by trade who made his fortune in real estate and insurance, Broad championed and helped finance the Broad Museum of contemporary art, which opened in 2015.
He also secured the art that would become the museum’s first major acquisition, the collection of Italian Count Guiseppe Biumo di Panza, now said to be worth $1 billion, according to a biography of Broad on the foundation’s website.
Broad contributed heavily to the construction of the nearby Walt Disney Concert Hall as well as an art center at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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