Leandro P. "Lee" Rizzuto (April 10, 1938 – December 3, 2017) was an American billionaire businessman, and the chairman and co-founder of

Conair Corporation Conair Corporation is an American company based in Stamford, Connecticut which sells small appliances, personal care products, and health and beauty products for both professionals and consumers. It was founded in 1959 and has since expanded to ...

, which was almost fully owned by him.

Early life

He was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, the son of Julian and Josephine Rizzuto. His father was born Nicola in Italy, but later changed his name to Julian, and Josephine's ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' 1983 obituary refers to him as Nicola. Leandro had two sisters, Anita Casamento of Brooklyn and Pauline Navarra of Phoenix. In 1959, Rizzuto dropped out of

St. John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) **St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus *College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and Col ...

to assist his family in setting up a hair products business in the basement of their Brooklyn home; this would later become Conair.

Career

In December 2017, his net worth was estimated at $3.5 billion.

Personal life

He was divorced, with four children, and lived in

Sheridan, Wyoming Sheridan is a town in the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Sheridan County. The town is located halfway between Yellowstone Park and Mount Rushmore by U.S. Route 14 and 16. It is the principal town of the Sheridan, Wyoming, Micropol ...

. On December 3, 2017, Rizzuto died from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

. On January 5, 2018, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

appointed his son Leandro Rizzuto Jr., to the position of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

, as well as

St. Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis (), officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country and microstate consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of ...

and

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rizzuto, Leandro 1938 births 2017 deaths American billionaires American people of Italian descent Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in Wyoming American company founders Businesspeople from Brooklyn People from Sheridan, Wyoming