From a gambling tycoon with a global empire to a member of the storied Rothschild banking family, a total of 27 billionaires passed away this year, leaving behind legacies of entrepreneurship—and billions of dollars. That’s out of a total of 2,755 billionaires Forbes found for our 2021 list of the World’s Billionaires, published in April 2021.
Most were older than 80, including GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson and U.K. tycoon Sir David Barclay. Two died in helicopter accidents: France’s Olivier Dassault and the Czech Republic’s Petr Kellner. The youngest was Chinese billionaire Hui Zuo, who founded U.S.-listed real estate brokerage KE Holdings, and died at age 50 after an “unexpected worsening of illness.”
Here are the billionaires who died in 2021, in alphabetical order by last name:
Sheldon Adelson
Citizenship: U.S..
Net worth at death: $35 billion
Died: January 2021 at age 87
Republican kingmaker and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson built a gambling empire with high-end casinos and resorts in Las Vegas, Singapore and Macao, amassing an estimated $35 billion fortune that made him the 19th richest person in the world at the time of his death.
Adelson wielded his fortune as a Republican mega-donor and power broker, pouring millions into supporting New Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Donald Trump and other Republican candidates. During his lifetime, Adelson and his wife, Miriam, gave more than $500 million to conservative campaigns and causes.
Miriam now owns her late-husband’s nearly 50% stake in the Las Vegas Sands. In March 2021, two months after Adelson died, the company agreed to sell its assets on The Strip, including the Venetian Resort and the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas, for $6.25 billion in a bid to focus on the Asia market.
