Dr. Jerry Buss | Owner LA Lakers

Dr. Jerry Buss | Owner LA Lakers

Dr. Jerry Buss | Owner LA Lakers
Jerry Buss is a real estate investor and former chemist, who likes to be called "Doctor". He was born in Salt Lake City in 1934, grew up in Wyoming and graduated from the University of Wyoming. He then moved to Los Angeles and earned both a masters degree and Ph.D in chemistry at the University of Southern California. Like Jerry Reinsdorf, Buss started out as a federal employee working as a chemist for the United States Bureau of Mines, and then worked briefly in the aerospace industry. He became a professor at the University of Southern California's chemistry department, and invested in real estate in his spare time to make enough money to continue his teaching.

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However with spectacular success in the real estate business, Jerry eventually dumped teaching and went into the real estate business full time. In 1979, Jerry bought Hollywood's most famous home, the "Pickfair Mansion", where Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford once lived, and maintained it until selling it to Pia Zadora in 1988. Buss has also been a high-stakes, cash-game poker player for many years. His best finishes include third place in the 1991 World Series of Poker Seven-Card Stud event and a second-place finish in the 2003 World Poker Tour Freeroll Invitational. He has appeared in the GSN-TV "High Stakes Poker" show and the NBC-TV series "Poker After Dark" .

Jerry bought the Los Angeles Lakers (they were the Minneapolis Lakers until 1961 - their name comes from the Minnesota nickname "Land of 10,000 Lakes"), the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League, and The Forum, where the Lakers and Kings played in 1979 for $67.5 million. At that time, it was the largest transaction in sports history. Since he bought the team, the Lakers have won 10 NBA championships with player stars like Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O'Neal and celebrity fans such as Jack Nicholson, Nikki Hilton, Sean Combs and Cameron Diaz. Jerry donated $7.5 million to USC's Department of Chemistry in 2008.

Jerry Buss lives in a $3.68 million mansion in Playa del Rey, California. He purchased the home of 10,846 square feet in 1995.

Source: virtualglobetrotting.com