Who are the richest people in Tennessee and Georgia?

October 14, 2019 at 12:26 p.m. | Updated October 14, 2019 at 7:32 p.m.

by Dave Flessner, compiler

University of Chattanooga graduate Gary W. Rollins, right, and his wife Kathleen stand in front of the Gary W. Rollins College of Business Thursday during a campus-wide celebration of their $40-million gift to the school. The gift was the largest single gift in the history of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Staff photo by Tim Barber
University of Chattanooga graduate Gary W. Rollins, right, and his wife Kathleen stand in front of the Gary W. Rollins College of Business Thursday during a campus-wide celebration of their $40-million gift to the school. The gift was the largest single gift in the history of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Staff photo by Tim Barber

Richest in Tennessee and Georgia

Among the richest Americans listed on the new Forbes 400 list of billionaires, six live in Tennessee and 10 are in Georgia.

Tennessee's wealthiest:

1. Thomas Frist Jr., the 81-year-old co-founder of Hospital Corporation of America in Nashville (and brother of former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist) , $11.5 billion

2. Martha Ingram, the 84-year-old owner of the distribution and marine firm Ingram Industries, $5.8 billion

3. Fred Smith, the 75-year-old founder and CEO of FedEx in Memphis, $3.8 billion

4. Jimmy Haslam, the 65-year-old CEO of Pilot Flying J in Knoxville (and brother of former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam), $2.9 billion

5. Brad Kelley, the 62-year-old founder of discount cigarette maker Commonwealth Brands who has since become one of America' biggest landowners who lives in Franklin, $2.4 billion

6. Jon Yarbrough, the 62-year-old founder of Video Gaming Technologies, which produced casino games and lives in Franklin, $2.2 billion

Georgia's wealthiest:

1. Jim Kennedy, the 71-year-old chairman of the automotive and media company Cox Enterprises in Atlanta, $9.6 billion

2. Bernard Marcus, the 90-year-old co-founder of Home Depot in Atlanta, $6.4 billion

3. Dan Cathy, the 66-year-old CEO of Chick-fil-A in Atlanta, $5.7 billion

4. Arthur Blank, the 77-year-old co-founder of Home Depot in Atlanta, $5.5 billion

5. John Brown, the 85-year-old retired chairman of medical device maker Striker Corp., $4.7 billion

6. Gary and Randall Rollins, preside over the pest control company Orkin in Atlanta (Gary gave his alma mater, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, $40 million last year - the biggest gift ever given to UTC), $3.7 billion each

7.Ben Chestnut and Dan Kurzlus, co-founders of Mailchimp in Atlanta, $2.2 billion each.

8. Ted Turner, the 80-year-old founder an former owner of CNN and Turner Broadcasting Co. in Atlanta who graduated from McCallie School in Chattanooga, $2.1 billion

Source: The Forbes 400, 2019 edition. The richest Americans on the list, in order, are Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos ($114 billion), Microsoft Founder Bill Gates ($106 billion) and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet ($80.8 billion)

Upcoming Events