Richard DeVos

Quality 0.50 · 4 views · Updated 2 months ago

American businessman

title: "Richard DeVos" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1926-births", "2018-deaths", "american-billionaires", "amway-people", "calvin-university-alumni", "american-people-of-dutch-descent", "christians-from-michigan", "orlando-magic-executives", "orlando-miracle-owners", "businesspeople-from-grand-rapids,-michigan", "military-personnel-from-grand-rapids,-michigan", "women's-national-basketball-association-executives", "heart-transplant-recipients", "american-members-of-the-christian-reformed-church-in-north-america", "american-male-writers", "united-states-army-air-forces-soldiers", "united-states-army-air-forces-personnel-of-world-war-ii", "people-associated-with-direct-selling", "michigan-republicans", "orlando-magic-owners", "devos-family", "acton-institute", "grand-rapids-christian-high-school-alumni"] description: "American businessman" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_DeVos" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American businessman ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameRichard DeVos
imageRichard DeVos and Gerald Ford (1975-06-06) (cropped).jpg
image_size150px
captionDeVos in 1975
birth_nameRichard Marvin DeVos
birth_date
birth_placeGrand Rapids, Michigan, U.S
death_date
death_placeAda Township, Michigan, U.S
occupationBusinessman
known_forAmway founder; owner of NBA's Orlando Magic
alma_materCalvin College
partyRepublican
spouse
children{{flatlist
::

| name = Richard DeVos | image = Richard DeVos and Gerald Ford (1975-06-06) (cropped).jpg | image_size = 150px | caption = DeVos in 1975 | birth_name = Richard Marvin DeVos | birth_date = | birth_place = Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S | death_date = | death_place = Ada Township, Michigan, U.S | resting_place = | occupation = Businessman | known_for = Amway founder; owner of NBA's Orlando Magic | alma_mater = Calvin College | party = Republican | spouse = | children = {{flatlist|

Richard Marvin DeVos Sr. (March 4, 1926 – September 6, 2018) was an American billionaire businessman, co-founder of Amway with Jay Van Andel (company restructured as Alticor in 2000), and owner of the Orlando Magic basketball team. In 2012, Forbes magazine listed him as the 60th wealthiest person in the United States, and the 205th richest in the world, with an estimated net worth of $5.1 billion.

Early life

DeVos was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Ethel Ruth (Dekker) and Simon Cornelius DeVos, Dutch Americans who worked in the electrical business. He was educated at Grand Rapids Christian School, and at Calvin College, and was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He served in the military in World War II in the United States Army Air Corps.

Career

Amway

DeVos and his school friend Jay Van Andel founded Amway in 1959 as a multi-level marketing business to distribute cleaning products, following the business model they had observed in a previous venture together. They ran the business together, expanding it over the decades into an international distributor of a wide variety of products.

Books

Books written by him include Compassionate Capitalism and Hope From My Heart: Ten Lessons For Life. The latter reflects his feelings after successfully undergoing a heart transplant operation in the United Kingdom in 1997 after being turned down for a transplant in the United States because of his age and diabetes. This was preceded by two heart-bypass operations in 1983 and 1992. In 1975, DeVos published a book about his success, co-authored with Charles Paul Conn, titled Believe!. In 2014 he published his memoirs, titled Simply Rich.

Sports ownership

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Richard_DeVos_2010.jpg" caption="DeVos welcoming fans before a game in October 2010"] ::

DeVos was the owner of the NBA team Orlando Magic, having bought the team in 1991 for $85 million. He became interested in the team after an unsuccessful effort to acquire a Major League Baseball expansion franchise for Orlando.

DeVos also formerly owned the Orlando Solar Bears, Grand Rapids Griffins, and the Kansas City Blades, three International Hockey League franchises before that league folded; the Solar Bears and Blades were closed as a result of the league folding, while the Griffins moved to the American Hockey League, and are now under the ownership of Dan DeVos, one of Richard's sons.

DeVos asked Orange County, Florida, to help pay for the Orlando Magic's new arena using county funds and Dema Stobell's Corporation money. Amway, for a time, paid for the naming rights to Amway Center (now Kia Center). The use of public money was controversial.

Boards

He sat on the board of trustees of Northwood University and had been president of the Council for National Policy. He also served on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, which is a museum dedicated to the U.S. Constitution. He sat on the legacy board of Christian Leaders Institute, the nonprofit organization founded by Henry Reyenga Jr. after he was encouraged by DeVos and Ron Parr.

Political involvement

DeVos was a major donor to the U.S. Republican Party and to conservative causes, including Focus on the Family, and the American Enterprise Institute. In the early 1970s, he was a major funder of John Conlan and Bill Bright's Third Century Publishers, the founding of which has been called "the first major effort to build a national movement of conservative evangelicals". DeVos supported the candidacies of Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich. DeVos served as a finance chairman for the Republican National Committee. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan appointed DeVos to the President's Commission on the HIV Epidemic, and was criticized at the time for characterizing people with AIDS as wanting "special treatment". He was a dedicated opponent of same-sex marriage.

DeVos was a long-time close friend of Gerald and Betty Ford, and was an honorary pallbearer at Gerald Ford's state funeral. He was an honorary trustee of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation.

Donations

He co-founded the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, an American conservative foundation and grant-making body in 1970. It is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The DeVoses were known in their philanthropy for contributing to education, health care, arts, and historic causes like Mount Vernon, and conservative think tanks such as The Heritage Foundation and AEI. Education-related philanthropy included the Richard M. and Helen DeVos Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Grand Valley State University, the Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse at Hope College, and the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Arts and Worship at Grand Rapids Christian Schools. The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation was in part responsible for funding the creation of the Sport Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida.

Personal life

Richard DeVos was the father of Dan (owner of the Grand Rapids Griffins hockey team), Richard Jr. ("Dick", husband of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and candidate for governor of Michigan), Cheri, and Doug.

DeVos was a member of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. He spent the last decade of his life trying unsuccessfully to rejoin it with the Reformed Church in America, from which it had split in 1857, dividing his grandparents.

Death

He died at his home in Ada, Michigan, on September 6, 2018, at the age of 92.

References

References

  1. "Amway's Founders". Amway.
  2. [https://www.forbes.com/profile/richard-devos "''Forbes'' magazine profile of Richard DeVos"] ''Forbes''. Retrieved March 2012.
  3. [https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/dutch_americans/richard-devos/ Richard DeVos [1926]], ''[[New Netherland Institute]]''
  4. (October 20, 1967). "The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Current volume". J.T. White.
  5. Nagengast, Kate. (2009-03-17). "DeVos gift to Grand Rapids Christian Schools relieves debt, puts schools on 'very stable financial ground'". [[MLive]].
  6. The Possible Dream, by Charles Paul Conn, page 6
  7. (2018-09-19). "Richard DeVos obituary". [[The Times]].
  8. Levin, Doron. (October 8, 1997). "Fate, patience bring DeVos a new heart: Amway cofounder back after journey for life". Detroit Free Press.
  9. "Simply Rich". Kirkus Reviews.
  10. (September 20, 1991). "Orlando Team Sold". [[New York Times]].
  11. (September 20, 1991). "N.B.A. Orlando Team Sold". The New York Times.
  12. "Magic, DeVos family plan to buy Orlando Solar Bears".
  13. "DAN DEVOS".
  14. "Nothing but the best for new arena: Look what your taxes helped buy". Orlando Sentinel.
  15. (July 26, 2010). "National Constitution Center, Board of Trustees". National Constitution Center.
  16. "Christian Leaders Directory".
  17. (May 7, 2012). "Christian Leaders Institute". Christian Leaders Institute.
  18. "HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN LEADERS INSTITUTE".
  19. (1983). "The New Christian Right: Mobilization and Legitimation". Aldine.
  20. Bennett, Laurie. (December 26, 2011). "The Ultra-Rich, Ultra-Conservative DeVos Family". Forbes.
  21. Confessore, Nicholas. (December 16, 2012). "Michigan Effort Shows G.O.P. Sway in State Contests". NYT.
  22. "Richard M. DeVos Sr". Bloomberg Businessweek.
  23. Boffey, Philip M.. (September 15, 1987). "U.S. Panel on AIDS, Citing Challenges, Ousts Staff Chief". The New York Times.
  24. (May 29, 2013). "Rich DeVos - Gerald R. Ford Foundation".
  25. link. (July 25, 2011)
  26. The Grantsmanship Center. (February 27, 2017). "Funding State by State".
  27. [https://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2016/01/how_mlive_analyzed_devos_famil.html How MLive analyzed DeVos family's $90.9 million in annual donations], mlive.com, January 19, 2016
  28. [https://hope.edu/news/2018/giving/richard-devos-philanthropic-impact-reflected-by-hope-campus.html Richard DeVos’ Philanthropic Impact Reflected by Hope Campus], hope.edu, Greg Olgers, September 6, 2018
  29. "DeVos Center for Arts and Worship".
  30. link. (July 6, 2007)
  31. Knape, Chris (May 19, 2009). [http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/05/at_83_amway_cofounder_richard.html "At 83, Amway co-founder Richard DeVos prepares company's third generation, addresses church, gay-marriage concerns"]. Michigan Live.
  32. "Orlando Magic senior chairman Rich DeVos passes away at 92". NBA.com.
  33. (September 6, 2018). "Amway co-founder Richard DeVos dies at 92". CNN.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

1926-births2018-deathsamerican-billionairesamway-peoplecalvin-university-alumniamerican-people-of-dutch-descentchristians-from-michiganorlando-magic-executivesorlando-miracle-ownersbusinesspeople-from-grand-rapids,-michiganmilitary-personnel-from-grand-rapids,-michiganwomen's-national-basketball-association-executivesheart-transplant-recipientsamerican-members-of-the-christian-reformed-church-in-north-americaamerican-male-writersunited-states-army-air-forces-soldiersunited-states-army-air-forces-personnel-of-world-war-iipeople-associated-with-direct-sellingmichigan-republicansorlando-magic-ownersdevos-familyacton-institutegrand-rapids-christian-high-school-alumni