Richard Rainwater Net Worth

Their flagship deal was Disney — perhaps “the best deal ever,” says Bonderman. Their $478 million investment in the floundering company in 1984 became billions after they used their leverage to install new management. Rainwater had done his due diligence, seeking advice on the entertainment business from Star Wars director George Lucas, among others. So he was ready when Michael Eisner, former studio chief at Paramount Pictures, called to pitch himself for the top job, preaching the virtues of picking someone from the creative side. Rainwater always looked for a big event – a blowup in energy prices, a revolution in health care reimbursements, a real estate bubble, etc. Then he looked for a powerful way to exploit the upheaval — not just to bet the trend, but turbo-charge the bet. In March 2009, Rainwater was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). The disease is rare, striking about six people in 100,000, usually in their fifties or sixties. Frequently misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s disease, it was not even identified in medical literature until 1963. Its cause remains unknown, and its effects are devastating. Battling for his life, Rainwater bankrolled an extraordinary, and characteristically creative, campaign to seek a cure for his rare affliction. Unfortunately, Richard Rainwater died on September 27, 2015.