Donald Friese (born 1940) is an American billionaire businessman, and the chief executive (CEO) and former owner of C.R. Laurence, a glazing supplies company.

Early life

Donald Friese was born in 1940 in

York, Pennsylvania York (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Yarrick''), known as the White Rose City (after the symbol of the House of York), is the county seat of York County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the south-central region of the state. The populatio ...

, the third of 13 children. After his high school graduation, he joined the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

in 1958, trained as a missile mechanic, and was stationed in Taiwan and Okinawa. He served in the army for 3 years before moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

with $125 in his pocket to find a job.

Career

Friese started at C.R. Laurence in

, which then had just one location, with an "entry-level job", as its sixth employee. A few years later, Bernie Harris, the owner, sold him a 10% stake, and he gradually acquired more, eventually buying Harris out when he retired. When Harris retired in 1997, he bought the 50% he did not already own. Friese expanded the business by acquiring competitors and launching a manufacturing operation. By 2015, the company manufactured more than 65,000 products for the glass industry. In 2015, he sold the company to the Irish conglomerate

CRH plc CRH may refer to: * Calibre radius head, a traditional British ordnance term for a concept in ballistic projectile design * Celtic Resources Holdings, an Irish mining company * China Railway High-speed, a high-speed railway service operated by Ch ...

for $1.3 billion cash, retaining most of the real estate and continuing as CEO. It was reported that Friese made $885 million from the sale of the company.

Personal life

Friese has been married to Andrea for 55 years (as of 2019), and lives in

Chatsworth, Los Angeles Chatsworth is a suburban neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. The area was home to Native Americans, some of whom left caves containing rock art. Chatsworth was explored and colonized by the Spanish be ...

. They have a weekend house in Malibu. They have three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friese, Donald 1940 births American billionaires Living people People from Chatsworth, Los Angeles Businesspeople from Los Angeles People from York, Pennsylvania