Sue Gross

Sue Gross (born in February 1950 as Sue J. Frank) is an American philanthropist, previously married since 1985 to Bill H. Gross, the billionaire co-founder of Pacific Investment Management Co., the largest global fixed income investment company, before leaving to join Janus Capital Group (now Janus Henderson) in September 2014.[1] She was formerly the President of the William and Sue Gross Foundation[2] until creating the Sue J. Gross Foundation[3] after she filed for divorce from Gross in 2016.[4]

Philanthropy

Gross and her former husband are supporters of a wide collection of causes, ranging from medical concerns to education and the arts. In 2005 they gave $23.5 million to Bill Gross’ alma mater, Duke University, $20 million of it to provide financial aid based on merit and need.[5] At the time, The $20 million for financial aid equaled a 1998 gift from Duke alumna Melinda Gates and her husband Bill as the largest from individuals for scholarships in the university’s history.[6] The couple’s largest gift was $40 million to the University of California, Irvine in 2016 to establish a nursing school and assist in the construction of a new building to house it. The contribution, which the university said would help address critical healthcare concerns, was the largest single gift ever to UCI.[2]

Bill and Sue Gross were reported to use unorthodox methods to distribute money, including employing a dozen anonymous associates to give $15,000 to unsuspecting people in dire financial straits.[7] Bill Gross has previously said that he delegated much of the family’s charitable giving to Sue. “Sue’s in charge of that,” Gross said. “She spends all her time looking for opportunities, a lot of it local. I report to her.”[8]

Sue Gross’ first announced donation in May 2018 from her new Sue J. Gross Foundation was a portion of the $36.9 million in proceeds from her sale of Pablo Picasso’s “Le Repos” she received in the divorce.[9]

Family and Personal Life

Sue Gross is the mother of Nick Gross, a musician and entrepreneur, with Bill Gross. She is stepmother to Bill Gross’ two adult children from a former marriage.[10]

Her former husband characterized her as “the artist in the family. She likes to paint replicas of some of the famous pieces, using an overhead projector to copy the outlines and then just sort of fill in the spaces. ‘Why spend $20 million?’ she’d say – ‘I can paint that one for $75’, and I must admit that one fabulous Picasso with signature ‘Sue’, heads the fireplace mantle in our bedroom.” The Picasso became a source of contention during the couple’s divorce when Bill Gross accused his ex-wife of switching out the original Picasso “Le Repos” with a forgery.[11]

In another case of art forgery, Sue Gross played a practical joke on her ex-husband when he was expecting a delivery of the rare 1-cent Z-Grill stamp from 1868 featuring Benjamin Franklin as the final piece of his stamp collection.[12] Worth an estimated $2.97 million, the stamp arrived at the Gross home, where Sue accepted the package and opened it. She created a “new” Z-Grill and marked the fake stamp in pesos, then repackaged the faux Z-Grill in a FedEx envelope. After he figured out the ruse, Gross put both the real stamp and impostor in his stamp album, writing the $2.97 million cost under the real stamp, and “priceless” under Sue’s version.

Real Estate

Sue Gross is a significant owner of residential real estate in Southern California, with two homes in Beverly Hills,[13] and five houses and a lot in the private community of Irvine Cove in Laguna Beach, several of which she received in the divorce from Bill Gross.[14] Her $20 million purchase of a home in Beverly Hills was ranked among the highest-priced sales in the Los Angeles region in February 2018.

References

  1. ↑ "William H. Gross Joins Janus Capital". Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  2. 1 2 "Sue and Bill Gross commit $40 million to establish nursing school". UCI News. 2016-01-12. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  3. ↑ "Sue J Gross Foundation in Irvine, CA". www.orgcouncil.com. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  4. ↑ "Bloomberg - Are you a robot?". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  5. ↑ "Grosses Donate $23.5 Million | Duke magazine". dukemagazine.duke.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  6. ↑ ""Sue and Bill Gross Give $23.5 Million to Duke, Primarily for Financial Aid". 2005-01-19.
  7. ↑ "Couple Uses Unorthodox Ways to Donate Most of $2-Billion Fortune". The Chronicle of Philanthropy. 2013-12-08. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  8. ↑ ""Pimco Co-Founder Bill Gross's Wife of 31 Years Seeks Divorce". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  9. ↑ "Picasso's Sleeping Muse". 2018-03-02.
  10. ↑ Library, CNN. "Bill Gross Fast Facts". CNN. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  11. ↑ "Wife hung fake Picasso after taking real thing amid contentious divorce". New York Post. 2018-05-12. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  12. ↑ "Bill Gross sends his stamps to Washington". Orange County Register. 2013-12-19. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  13. ↑ "Sue Gross slides into a $20 million Beverly Hills classic". Yolanda's Little Black Book. 2018-03-01. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  14. ↑ "Inside the bitter divorce war between billionaire exes". New York Post. 2018-08-07. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
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