Michael Armand Hammer (September 8, 1955 – November 20, 2022) was an American businessman. He was the son of Julian Armand Hammer and the grandson of industrialist

Armand Hammer Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American business manager and owner, most closely associated with Occidental Petroleum, a company he ran from 1957 until his death. Called "Lenin's chosen capitalist" by the press, ...

. Best known for his ties to Occidental Petroleum, the company of his late grandfather, Hammer oversaw the Hammer International Foundation, the Armand Hammer Foundation, and owned numerous businesses that included Hammer Galleries, and Hammer Productions, a television and film production company located in

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 ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Hammer sat on the board of directors and the executive committee for the Los Angeles

Dream Center The Dream Center is a Pentecostal network of community centers in Los Angeles, California, established in 1994. The president of Dream Center is Matthew Barnett. History The organization was founded in 1994 by Matthew Barnett and Tommy Barnett ...

, and also served on the Investment Committee and Board of Reference for Oral Roberts University. Hammer was the owner and chief executive of the

Knoedler M. Knoedler & Co. was an art dealership in New York City founded in 1846. When it closed in 2011, amid lawsuits for fraud, it was one of the oldest commercial art galleries in the US, having been in operation for 165 years. History Knoedler dat ...

, an art dealership in New York City, which closed in 2011 after purchasing and reselling $80 million in forged paintings bearing the signature of abstract expressionists such as

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Lat ...

and

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...

Early life

Michael Armand Hammer was born on September 8, 1955, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He is the son of Glenna Sue ( Ervin) and Julian Armand Hammer, has two siblings, sister Casey Hammer and half-sister Jan Ward, and has two children, actor

Armie Hammer Armand Douglas Hammer (born August 28, 1986) is an American actor. Hammer began his acting career with guest appearances in several television series. His first leading role was as Billy Graham in the 2008 film '' Billy: The Early Years'', and ...

and Viktor, a businessman and entrepreneur. Viktor and Armie Hammer are the only great-grandsons of industrialist

. His paternal grandfather's parents were

Ukrainian Jewish The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Some of the most important Jewish religious and ...

immigrants. His paternal grandmother, Russian-born actress Baroness Olga von Root, was the daughter of a czarist general. His mother was a native of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Hammer studied at the University of San Diego, where he graduated with a degree in business administration in 1978. He later graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business in 1982 with a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

degree.

Career

Before becoming involved with his grandfather's company, Occidental Petroleum, Hammer served in different roles at the New York City securities and investment banking firm Kidder, Peabody & Co., which later was sold to PaineWebber, which ultimately merged with

UBS AG UBS Group AG is a multinational investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres as the largest Swis ...

in November 2000. He joined Occidental Petroleum in 1982 and served in various capacities in the company's facilities in

, Oklahoma,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

. In 1985, he moved to the corporation's headquarters in

where he became a vice president, He shortly thereafter became a member of the board of directors and the executive committee, and served in those capacities until his departure from the company in 1991, not long after the death of Armand Hammer. Since leaving Occidental, Hammer has worked with several companies, including OnVANTAGE, Inc. in 2000, which was later acquired by the company StarCite, Inc., and Avenue Entertainment Group as a member of the Board following an investment in the company by Hammer International in 1999.

Personal life

Hammer married Dru Ann Mobley of Tulsa, Oklahoma, on January 12, 1985, at the First Methodist Church in Tulsa. Hammer became a Christian upon marrying his wife, and was a benefactor of several Christian organizations dedicated to evangelism.Orlando Sentinel: "Hammer funds routed to evangelical groups"
January 4, 1997 , ''"Michael Hammer, 42, says he became a Christian after meeting and marrying former fitness instructor Dru Ann Mobley in 1985."'' Before they divorced in 2012 after 27 years of marriage, Michael and Dru Hammer had two children, actor

(born 1986) and businessman Viktor Hammer (born 1988). Hammer formerly resided in a Paul Williams-designed, 1920s Tudor-style mansion, that was featured in films and television shows, including the Bells of St. Mary's, '' Rocky V'', and others. It had erroneously been dubbed "Wayne Manor", as it was thought the house had been used in the '' Batman'' TV show, but in fact an adjacent residence was the site used for Batman. The historic mansion was destroyed by fire in October 2005 during a renovation by the Hammers."Mansion"
April 25, 2010. On May 30, 2017, he married Misty Millward.

Death

Hammer died from cancer on November 20, 2022, at the age of 67.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammer, Michael Armand 1955 births 2022 deaths American businesspeople American philanthropists American people of Russian-Jewish descent American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Michael New York University Stern School of Business alumni University of San Diego alumni American Christians Businesspeople from Los Angeles