In what could be a first, Forbes Magazine has recognized a Maine resident as one of the 400 wealthiest living Americans.
Susan Alfond, a Scarborough resident, is one of three surviving siblings whose father, Harold Alfond, founded Dexter Shoe Co. Susan Alfond and her brothers, Bill and Ted, are each believed to have $3.4 billion in personal wealth, placing them 388th out of 400 billionaires.
Bill and Ted Alfond are Massachusetts residents, yet they grew raised in Maine with their sister. Peter Alfond, the fourth sibling, died from malaria in 2017. Bill and Ted Alfond are minority partners in Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League.
The Alfonds’ fortune is derived from their ownership of Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate led by Warren Buffett, who ranks sixth on Forbes’ list. Their father, who died in 2007, was friends with Buffett and sold his stake of Dexter Shoe Co. for Berkshire Hathaway stock, which has since increased in value.
This year’s Forbes 400 list includes several other billionaires with ties to Maine, the majority of whom own seasonal homes along the shore.
The wealthiest of them is Edward C. Johnson IV, whose fortune is believed to be worth $12.6 billion, making him the 70th richest American. Johnson, whose grandfather, Edward C. Johnson II, founded Fidelity Investments, has a summer home on Mount Desert Island, and his father, Edward C. Johnson III, has long owned and vacationed there.
Edward C. Johnson III, who died in 2022, oversaw the investing firm until 2014, when he handed over the reins to his daughter Abigail Johnson. Abigail Johnson is ranked 30th on Forbes’ list, with an estimated wealth of $31.3 billion, but it is unclear whether she or a third Johnson sibling, Elizabeth (who Forbes estimates is worth $10.6 billion), own land or spend summers in Maine.
Other billionaires who appear on the Forbes list and own summer homes on MDI include brothers Stephen and Mitchell Rales, Charles Butt, and Robert Bass, all of whom have an estimated worth of $5 billion to $9 billion.
John C. Malone, the founder of Liberty Media and one of the country’s richest landowners, owns Mosquito Island near Port Clyde and a holiday residence in Boothbay. Malone, who is rated 89th on Forbes’ list with an estimated worth of $10.7 billion, owns roughly 1 million acres in Maine, including Falcon Lodge on Spencer Lake in Somerset County and surrounding woodlands.
In 2021, he and his wife Leslie Malone donated $25 million to Maine Medical Center.
James Davis, the CEO of a shoe company, is another billionaire on the Forbes list with a strong Maine connection.
Davis and his wife, Anna Davis, own and control the New Balance shoe firm, which last year enlarged its Skowhegan production plant. With the development, the business intends to close its Norridgewock factory and relocate all operations and employees there to Skowhegan.