J. R. Simplot

John Richard ("Jack" or "J.R.") Simplot (January 9, 1909 – May 25, 2008) was the founder of the J. R. Simplot Company, an agricultural supplier specializing in potato products, based in Boise, Idaho. In 2007 he was estimated to be the 89th-richest person in America, at $3.6 billion. At the time of his death at age 99 in May 2008, he was the oldest billionaire on the Forbes 400. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1909, he was the third of six children of Charles R. and Dorothy Simplot. A year later, the family relocated a thousand miles (1600 km) west to homestead in the newly irrigated Magic Valley of south central Idaho. After differences with his authoritarian father, Simplot quit school in the eighth grade and left home to strike out on his...