Steven Ferencz Udvar–Házy (; born 1946), also known as István or Steve Hazy, is an American billionaire businessman and the executive chairman of

Air Lease Corporation Air Lease Corporation (ALC) is an American aircraft leasing company founded in 2010 and headed by Steven F. Udvar-Házy. Air Lease purchases new commercial aircraft through direct orders from Boeing, Airbus, Embraer and ATR, and leases them to it ...

. He is the former chairman and CEO of

International Lease Finance Corporation The International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) was an aircraft lessor headquartered in the Constellation Place in Century City, Los Angeles, California, US. It was the world's largest aircraft lessor by value, though ILFC's rival, General El ...

(ILFC), one of the two largest aircraft lessors in the world (the other being

AerCap AerCap Holdings N.V. is an Irish aircraft leasing company based in Dublin. It became the largest aircraft leasing company in the world after acquiring International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) in 2014, then GECAS from General Electric in ...

.) ''

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 re ...

'' magazine's 2021 list of

The World's Billionaires ''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking by documented net worth of the wealthiest billionaires in the world, compiled and published in March annually by the American business magazine ''Forbes''. The list was first published in March ...

estimated his net worth at

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

4 billion.

Early life

The Udvar-Házy family moved to the US in 1958, fleeing the Soviet occupation of Hungary. Hazy attended University High School in Los Angeles, and the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Career

Udvar-Házy was in his 20s during the later part of transition from

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

aircraft to jets during the mid to late 1960s, and realized that the higher capital investment required to purchase jet aircraft created an opportunity for a leasing business. He founded ILFC with fellow Hungarian

Leslie Gonda Leslie Gonda (August 20, 1919 – March 16, 2018) was a Hungarian-born American businessman, philanthropist, and Holocaust survivor. He was the co-founder (with his son Louis Gonda) of International Lease Finance Corporation. Early life Gonda wa ...

and his son

Louis Gonda Louis L. Gonda (born 1949/1950) is an American businessman, active in commercial real estate and venture capital. Early life He is the son of Leslie Gonda, a Hungarian-born American businessman and Holocaust survivor, and his wife Susan. He has ...

in 1973, leasing a single used

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in Ju ...

Aeroméxico Aerovías de México, S.A. de C.V. () operating as Aeroméxico (; stylized as AM), is the flag carrier airline of Mexico, based in Mexico City. It operates scheduled services to more than 90 destinations in Mexico; North, South and Central Ameri ...

. He left ILFC in February 2010 and founded

. In 2016,

Prime Minister of Hungary The prime minister of Hungary ( hu, Magyarország miniszterelnöke) is the head of government of Hungary. The prime minister and the Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Parliament, to their political party ...

Viktor Orbán Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian politician who has served as prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has presided over Fidesz since 1993, with a brief break between 20 ...

presented Udvar-Házy the Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of Hungary The Hungarian Order of Merit ( hu, Magyar Érdemrend) is the fourth highest State Order of Hungary. Founded in 1991, the order is a revival of an original order founded in 1946 and abolished in 1949. Its origins, however, can be traced to the O ...

for his achievements in airline industry.

Philanthropy

Udvar-Házy gave a US$66 million grant to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

that allowed the U.S.

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...

to build the

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It holds numerous ...

annex at

Washington Dulles International Airport Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Eastern United States, loc ...

. The annex houses more than 120 aircraft and 140 space-exploration exhibits as of 2006, and also includes the

Space Shuttle Discovery Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to Se ...

. Plans call for eventually installing over 300 aircraft. The Udvar-Házy family contributed funds to build the Christine and Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Library and Learning Center at

Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) is a private university focused on aviation and aerospace programs. Initially founded at Lunken Field in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1926, its main campuses are located in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Prescott ...

's Prescott Campus. The business building at

Utah Tech University Utah Tech University (UT), formerly known as Dixie State University (DSU) and similar names, is a public university in St. George, Utah. The university offers about 240 programs (4 master's degrees, 53 bachelor's degrees, 18 associate degrees, 45 ...

St. George, Utah St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...

is named after his parents, Erno and Etel Udvar-Házy.

Personal life

He is married with four children, and lives in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

, California.

References

1946 births Living people American airline chief executives American billionaires American philanthropists Hungarian emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from Los Angeles University of California, Los Angeles alumni Hungarian billionaires People from Budapest

Early life

Career

Philanthropy

Personal life

See also

References

Further reading