This marks the 10th year that Virginia Business has been following the scent of the 100 richest individuals and families in the commonwealth. We've learned some new tricks since unveiling our first list in 1989. After all, one decade means that we've been digging through wills, proxy statements and real estate records for 70 dog years. Along the way, we have unearthed evidence of some phenomenal economic trends. Our first list was dominated by Northern Virginia real estate magnates like Mohammed Hadid and Bahman Batmanghelidj. Many of them were replaced in the early 1990s by empire builders such as Pat Robertson and Bill Goodwin. And in recent years the list has featured a growing number of technology titans like Steve Case and Bob Kopstein. With the exception of some short-lived real estate fortunes, these young pups are quickly surpassing the old dogs who inherited their wealth. The cutoff for our first Virginia 100 was a mere $30 million. This year the price of admission jumped to $80 million, a 33 percent increase over last year's base of $60 million. Only 41 individuals and families have remained on the list for the entire decade. This year alone, we added 17 new names. Over the years, of course, many Virginia 100 members have tried to hound us into removing them from the list. We tell them that the only easy way out is to nominate enough people who are farther up the ladder. That's how we sniffed out a number of new names for this year's list. We've even reserved a few for next year's hunt. * * * The high-tech boom has spawned a new litter for The Virginia 100, and so has the stock market explosion. Stock appreciation has pushed a whole passel of corporate top dogs into this exclusive kennel club. W. Russell Ramsey, 38, is doing well as president of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc. of Arlington, an investment banking firm that specializes in finance and technology companies. FBR went public in 1997, and if Ramsey's partners ever move to Virginia, we'll put them on the list, too. Wealth also accumulated quickly for Stephen M. Wolf, the CEO who turned around Arlington's US Airways Group Inc., and John H. Fain, co-founder of Virginia Beach-based Metro Information Services. Fain's info-tech consulting company didn't even exist when The Virginia 100 debuted in 1989. Telecommunications has a collar on much of the Old Dominion's new wealth. Take a look at Jim Murray of Charlottesville, who is now a deal maker at Columbia Capital Corp., the investment firm he co-founded with fellow Virginia 100 member Mark Warner. The two met in the cellular business. Murray also was a key player in assembling WNP Communications, a Charlottesville firm that was the highest bidder in March when the Federal Communications Commission auctioned off new spectrum for wireless communications. Another telecom titan is H. Brian Thompson, chairman and CEO of LCI International in McLean. Thompson edged onto the bottom of our list, but his pending deal to sell LCI to Quest Communications in a $4.4 billion stock swap should bolster his net worth next year. We also added the telecom couple Rajendra and Neera Singh, who met in India and attended school together in the United States. With $1,000 between them, the couple formed LCC Inc., a wireless technology consulting company. With a few investments along the way, their initial $1,000 investment has grown into an incredible fortune of $1.1 billion. If you divided their wealth in two, each of the Singhs would make our list individually, so they add two names to our Virginia 100. Paul and Teresa Klaassen, however, count as one because it takes the Oakton couple's combined stake in Sunrise Assisted Living to put them on the list. They founded the senior-care company in 1981. New entries also include low-profilers such as Joseph E. Robert Jr., whose J.E. Robert Cos. is a niche commercial real estate firm. John D. Gottwald, the 43-year-old CEO of Tredegar Industries, also joins the list. We have mentioned him in the Gottwald family writeup for several years, but this year, for the first time, we're confident that he makes it on his own. Some of the other Gottwalds also are getting close. As always The Virginia 100 has its share of eccentrics, including Irwin Wayne Uran, who made $70 million from the sale of a Michigan furniture polish manufacturer. He wins the prize for living within his means: Uran has resided in apartments or hotels his entire adult life. He reportedly still enjoys the senior citizens' discount at Leesburg restaurants. * * * So how do people wind up on The Virginia 100? We've been trailing some for quite a while now. Take Charlottesville's William G. Crutchfield Jr., who founded Crutchfield Corp. in his mother's basement. He has since built his consumer electronics business into one of the nation's top mail-order operations. Contacted this year, he confessed that he'd been expecting -- and dreading -- our call. We put him on at $90 million. Why do we work like dogs tracking down The Virginia 100? According to our surveys, it is our best-read annual feature. We also believe that tracking wealth provides insight into Virginia's economy and business community. But it's not easy. Many of our net worth estimates are simply educated guesses. That's why we give each estimate a rating that reflects the confidence we have in our research: "A" is for accurate; "B" is for ballpark; and "C" is -- for lack of a better word -- conjecture. We'll just keep trying to get it right. If you can help, throw us a bone. Leigh Anne Larance
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