James Leprino (born 1937/38) is an American billionaire, businessman, and chairman of

Leprino Foods Leprino Foods is an American company with headquarters in Denver, Colorado that produces cheese, lactose, whey protein and sweet whey. It is the world's largest maker of mozzarella cheese. Overview Leprino Foods was founded by James Leprino's ...

, the world's largest manufacturer of

mozzarella Mozzarella (, ; nap, muzzarella ) is a southern Italian cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method. Fresh mozzarella is generally white but when seasoned it turns to a light yellow depending on the anim ...

cheese. He was listed as the 264th richest person in the US with a net worth of $3.1 billion, according to the 2017

Forbes 400 The ''Forbes'' 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes'' magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is pub ...

list. ''Forbes''' Chloe Sorvino nicknamed him the "

Willy Wonka Willy Wonka is a fictional character appearing in British author Roald Dahl's 1964 children's novel ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' and its 1972 sequel ''Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator''. He is the eccentric founder and proprietor ...

of cheese".

Early life

James Leprino was born circa 1938. He is the youngest of five children of Mike Leprino Sr., who emigrated from Italy in 1914, aged 16, settled in Denver, and was a farm worker before starting a grocery store in Denver's Little Italy in 1950.

Career

After graduating from high school in 1956, he worked full-time with his father, but due to pressure from large grocery chains, his father's store closed in 1958, so he started Leprino Foods with $615, focusing on making cheese for pizza, sales of which were booming. Leprino is the chairman and CEO of

, the largest manufacturer of

cheese in the world. In October 2017, his net worth was estimated by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' at US$3.1 billion. He supplies major pizza chains including

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert a ...

Domino's Domino's Pizza, Inc., trading as Domino's, is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain founded in 1960 and led by CEO Russell Weiner. The corporation is Delaware domiciled and headquartered at the Domino's Farms Office Park in Ann Arbor ...

Papa John's Papa John's International, Inc., d/b/a Papa Johns, is an American pizza restaurant chain. It is the fourth largest pizza delivery restaurant chain in the United States, with headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia metropolit ...

and

Little Caesars Little Caesar Enterprises Inc. (doing business as Little Caesars) is an American multi-national pizza chain. Based on 2020 statistics, Little Caesars is the third-largest pizza chain by total sales in the United States, behind Pizza Hut and ...

, and controls up to 85% of the US pizza cheese market. In 2022, his two nieces, who hold a 25% stake in Leprino Foods, filed a lawsuit claiming they, as minority shareholders, were disfavored in terms of profitability and global management. The nieces requested Leprino Foods be dissolved and its assets to be distributed among all shareholders. A Colorado judge ruled out dismantlement of the company, but their claims of inequitable treatment could go forward.

Personal life

Leprino is married with two children. He resides in

Indian Hills, Colorado Indian Hills is an unincorporated town, a post office, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area ...

Political lobbying and support

From 1990 to 2017, Leprino Foods contributed $1,521,894 to political lobbying, with 75 to 80 percent of Leprino's political contributions going to Republicans."

References

1930s births Living people People from Jefferson County, Colorado American chief executives American people of Italian descent American billionaires Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) {{US-business-bio-1930s-stub