Larry Ellison: Richest Californian

California is a land of many billionaires, but Larry Ellison is the richest Californian of them all.

The CEO of the California-based Oracle Corporation is the recent winner of the coveted America's Cup and a philanthropist with his own Ellison Medical Foundation.

The 66-year-old business magnate, now worth $30-billion, has been a Californian for many years and has no plans to leave the Golden State.  Ellison and California have been good for each other.

Larry Ellison is married to a romance novelist and is the father of five children.  He is a licensed pilot, he lives on a magnificent $200-million estate in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ellison has candidly summed-up his road to a staggering business fortune by saying, "I have had all of the disadvantages required for success".

Many ambitious California businesspeople can totally relate.

Philanthropy is part of the Ellison philosophy.  The technology titan's nonprofit medical foundation supports basic biomedical research on aging relevant to understanding lifespan development processes and age-related diseases and disabilities.

The main goal of the Ellison Medical Foundation is to provide scientists with the resources, freedom, and flexibility to pursue high-risk research that could have a scientific impact worldwide. It supports innovative research that improves lives and influences future discoveries.

Larry Ellison was raised in Chicago, Illinois.  Later, just barely out of his teens, he dropped out of college and headed westward to California to seek his fortune.

Ellison turned his California Dream into a $30-billion reality, and Oracle is one of California's greatest corporate success stories.

Larry Ellison's journey is a compelling California success story which continues to inspire business innovators onward and upward.