Betsy, the daughter of auto parts magnate Edgar Prince and sister of Blackwater founder Erik Prince, owes the vast majority of her fortune to her marriage to Dick DeVos. [77] DeVos's nomination was supported by 18 Republican governors, including John Kasich and Rick Snyder, along with the nine Republican members of Congress from Michigan. would not be surprised if there are also those that would try to subvert the mission of this organization and this department," she stated. Having tried his hand at several businesses, before earning his first million in the home care, beauty, and health industry, he always believed that his hard work would pay off one day. The use of public money was controversial. We have the lowest personal income growth, the lowest business start-ups in the country. [20] As of October 27, 2006, the DeVos campaign had spent $39 million, of which nearly $35 million was DeVos's own money. [118], In a January 2018 speech, Devos said that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) found that "60 percent of its teachers reported having moderate to no influence over the content and skills taught in their own classrooms." Richard DeVos was one of the co-founders of multi-level marketing giant, Amway. [60][61] Rebecca Mead of The New Yorker questioned the efficacy of Michigan's charter school system, which DeVos has supported. A history of entrepreneurship. (After a multiyear investigation in the 1970s, the Federal Trade Commission ruled Amway is not a pyramid scheme.). She grew up in Holland, Michigan, the eldest of four children born to Elsa (Zwiep) Prince (later, Broekhuizen) and Edgar Prince, a billionaire industrialist. [16] He sat on the legacy board of Christian Leaders Institute,[17][18] the nonprofit organization founded by Henry Reyenga Jr. after he was encouraged by DeVos and Ron Parr. In response, AFT noted that in the same survey of around 5,000 educators, 86% felt that Devos had disrespected them. Taxes like the SBT and Michigan's personal property tax hurt manufacturers more than any other tax. [109] On July 12, 2020, she said "there's nothing in the data that suggests that kids being in school is in any way dangerous to them", an assertion that public health experts disputed. Richard M. DeVos 1926 - 2018 Helen J. DeVos 1927 - 2017. . "We want to help develop human capital and leverage that capital to the greatest extent possible", she said, describing Kaiser's "practice and approach" as "practical, realistic and creative". An account of the Grand Action project explains that while authorities in Detroit kept initiating "one master project after another" that was supposed to solve that city's problems, and that never did, Grand Rapids was different, because its "business leaders painstakingly set goals, aligned with government officials, generated support, and empowered key players." [62] The Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Michigan Democratic Party opposed DeVos's nomination. campaign committee, which sponsored a ballot-initiative that would have amended the Michigan constitution to allow vouchers and tuition tax credits for private K-12 education. Richard DeVos was the father of Dan (owner of the Grand Rapids Griffins hockey team), Richard Jr. ("Dick", husband of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and candidate for governor of Michigan ), Cheri, and Doug . [4][146][155], DeVos was appointed by President George W. Bush to the board of directors of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2004, and served until 2010. [161] DeVos is a former member of the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd),[162] an education think tank founded by Jeb Bush, the chairman since 2015 of which has been former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and which has received donations from Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and Eli Broad. [58], On November 23, 2016, Trump's transition team announced DeVos as the nominee to be the next secretary of education. 351 richest person in the world, with a net worth of approximately US$5.4billion. In the fall of 2010, DeVos opened the West Michigan Aviation Academy,[35] the nation's first aviation public charter high school. [31] The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation was in part responsible for funding the creation of the Sport Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida.[32]. 1-877-812-1590. [194][195][196], Betsy DeVos's brother, Erik Prince, a former U.S. Navy SEAL officer, is the founder of Blackwater USA, a private military services contractor.[23][197][198]. [22] In 1987, President Ronald Reagan appointed DeVos to the President's Commission on the HIV Epidemic,[23] and was criticized at the time for characterizing people with AIDS as wanting "special treatment". She went to the Calvin College and graduated with a bachelors degree in Art. Their slice of the familys portfolio of commercial real estate, private equity investments, mansions and yachts makes up the rest of the education secretarys net worth. Ethics laws dont require public officials like DeVos to break down their exact stake in an investment or what they have given to family members, an especially big loophole for large, dynastic wealth like the DeVos fortune. He also served on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, which is a museum dedicated to the U.S. Those twin comments led the RNC to oust DeVos in August 1982, though they did little to diminish his support for the party and conservative groups more broadly. [98] In her first official appearance as Secretary on February 10, 2017, dozens of protesters showed up to prevent her appearance. He also suggested that tourism "is one of the businesses and industries that has a bright future for Michigan, and is exciting." That stake has made the DeVoses unbelievably rich. The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation has supported ArtPrize, an art competition in Grand Rapids, since 2009. Is this 2023 or 2013? This includes various donations of scholarships, buildings and uncountable financial donations. DeVos was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Ethel Ruth (Dekker) and Simon Cornelius DeVos, who worked in the electrical business. [157] The DeVoses' gift, part of which would be spent on arts groups in Michigan that had been hit hard by the recession, was the largest private donation in the Kennedy Center's history. Dan DeVos is a businessman in his own right, and he's most well known for his role as CEO of DP Fox. The DeVoses own a sportsplex in Florida, a baseball stadium in Michigan and a resort in the Bahamas. [40], The Dick & Betsy DeVos Scholarship was established in 2008 by DeVos and his wife to When he left the position six years later, they had grown to 50 percent of annual sales. [68][69] DeVos drew widespread media attention during the confirmation hearings for suggesting that guns might have a place in some schools due to a threat from grizzly bears. ADA, Mich. -- Billionaire Richard DeVos, whose family bought the Orlando Magic in 1991, has died. [80] During an unusually early 6:30a.m. vote on February 3, 2017, cloture was invoked on DeVos's nomination in the Senate, requiring a final vote on the confirmation to happen after 30 hours of debate. Obituary for Richard Lee DeVos Richard Lee DeVos was born November 29, 1934 in Marion County, Iowa the eighth child of Jess and Cleta (Noftsger) DeVos. Marshals Service said after a threat evaluation was conducted in February that DeVos would be given additional security, projecting a cost of $7.8million between February and September 2017. DeVos served as an Honorary Pallbearer at Gerald R. Ford's State Funeral. ", The article also pointed out that "newspapers have divided their support along party lines, with the Detroit Free Press endorsing Granholm and The Grand Rapids Press siding with DeVos." Distributors might imagine theyll end up like the man himself, worth billions, but the fact is that less than one-half of 1 percent of Amways independent business operators make more than $12,000 a year in sales, and many others lose money, as is disclosed in the fine print of a company pamphlet. Regarding the withdrawal of the department's team, former Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, "That's a waste of taxpayer money. Years later, DeVos said: "I learned I needed to be better at expressing my opinions more directly and forcefully.My mother taught me to be respectful and polite, but sometimes I took that advice too far. He is still considered to be the wealthiest man to run for statewide office in Michigan's history. Criticizing Granholm's economic policies, he said that in her place "I would have sent a very different signal to the entire regulatory infrastructure of the state, and would have taken steps to make this state more business friendly." Born on March 04, 1926 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA , United States (96 years) Born on March 04 36. Magna Bloc Therapeutic Magnets relieve my pain, the billionaire boasted while holding the product on the cover of the May 1999 issue of Amagram, Amways in-house magazine. DeVos planned to create "a pro-jobs tax structure while supporting small business growth to increase jobs," and described his credentials as follows: "I've made tough decisions, I've turned around a struggling business, and I've helped an entire city turn around. He is an Honorary Trustee of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation. "[37] He told a reporter for the Grand Rapids Press: "If you're the kind of person who can't help but look up when you hear a plane overhead, then you're exactly the kind of person who will love this school.I have just a joy of flying.The world is such a different place when you can see it from 5,000 feet. DeVos is survived by his four adult children: Suzanne "Cheri" DeVos, Richard "Dick," Daniel G. and Douglas L. DeVos. According to Harris, she designed a system with no oversight in which schools that do poorly can continue to enroll students. It's a monopoly, a dead end. [27] The DeVoses were known in their philanthropy for contributing to education, health care, arts and historic causes like Mount Vernon, and conservative think tanks such as The Heritage Foundation and AEI. [109] She also refused to say whether schools should follow guidelines laid out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on reopening schools. DeVos was unable to provide any actual examples of improvement, but stated there were "pockets" where schools had done better than public schools. Sway in State Contests", "U.S. Panel on AIDS, Citing Challenges, Ousts Staff Chief", "At 83, Amway co-founder Richard DeVos prepares company's third generation, addresses church, gay-marriage concerns", How MLive analyzed DeVos family's $90.9 million in annual donations, "M. and Helen DeVos Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation", Richard DeVos Philanthropic Impact Reflected by Hope Campus, Sport Business About the DeVos Foundation, "Amway co-founder Richard DeVos dies at 92", Majority team owners in the National Basketball Association, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_DeVos&oldid=1135078359, Businesspeople from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Women's National Basketball Association executives, American members of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 22 January 2023, at 14:21. Family tree . Contact the DeVos Family Foundation Phone:(616) 643-4700Email:info@dvfoundations.orgAddress:DeVos Family Foundation 200 Monroe Avenue NW, Suite 200 Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Privacy Cookies 2023 DeVos Family Foundation Asked what she could do about that, she said, "Whatever can be done will be done, and it will be done swiftly and surely. Elisabeth Dee DeVos (/dvs/ d-VOSS; ne Prince; born January 8, 1958) is an American politician, philanthropist, and former government official who served as the 11th United States secretary of education from 2017 to 2021. Dan DeVos, chairman of the Orlando Magic NBA franchise and vice chairman of RDV, the family's investment wing, also heads his own firm, DP Fox Ventures. "It's a three-legged stool", DeVos explained. In 1982, during a recession in the middle of Reagans first term, DeVos, always one to speak his mind, told an assembled group of Republican bigwigs that this recession has been a beneficial thing and a cleansing thing for society. As the RNC attempted to court support from organized labor, their efforts were undercut by their own finance chair, who called unions a negative wind and said that they had no place in the Republican Party: If they want to be represented by somebody else, good for them.. Still, they raked in money from at least 85 separate sources last year, according to an early draft of Betsys most recent financial disclosure obtained by Forbes. "[43], DeVos and his wife contributed money to help fund a $500,000, 18-month private study of Lake Macatawa pollution sources, according to a June 2011 article. [111], On July 13, 2017, Candice Jackson, who is a sexual assault survivor, organized a meeting with DeVos, college sexual assault victims, accused assailants, and higher education officials, and said she would look at policies on sexual assault accusations on campuses from the Obama administration to see if accused students were treated within their rights. Richard is the son of Simon Cornelius DeVos and Ethel Ruth Dekker. She is the daughter of billionaire industrialist Edgar Prince, and sister of Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince.[11][12]. In fact, a huge donation was given to both Jeb Bush and Scott Walker in order to support their campaigns. Both his father and mother were Dutch. Would you say to Indiana, that school cannot discriminate against LGBT students if you want to receive federal dollars? He along with his wife, created a foundation for philanthropic causes and they donated heavily to the US Republican partys conservative causes as well. DP Fox and RDV are all in the same Grand Rapids, Mich., building as Sterling Fox, the entity that owns the Superior Street site. In 2006, DeVos ran for Governor of Michigan, but lost to the then-incumbent Democrat Jennifer Granholm. "The unintended consequences of Proposal 2 will result in a $1.6-billion annual tax hike," said DeVos. He studied at the Grand Rapids Christian High School and this is where he met his friend and future business partner Jay Van Andel. DeVos was the co-founder of direct-selling giant Amway and father-in-law of Education . He left that job a. DeVos has received honorary doctorates from Grove City College, Central Michigan University and Northwood University, as well as distinguished alumni recognition from Northwood University. [179], Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review argued that Harris overstates the failure of charter schools in Detroit. By contrast, "big union bosses have engaged in cozy deals and political backroom dealings in order to advance their personal agendas, not those of their members," They focused especially on Michigan's Proposition 2, which would protect collective bargaining. Richard M. DeVos. One of his daughters-in-law, Betsy DeVos, is the U.S. secretary of education. Dick DeVos was the President of Amway from the year 1993 to 2002, he is married to Betsy DeVos, the US Secretary of Education. In an opinion editorial, the Chicago Tribune wrote that "DeVos has helped lead the national battle to expand education opportunities for children". Van Wesep and married Richard in the year 1953. I hear it from business people everywhere I go in this state. DeVos supported the candidacies of Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich. Despite the national fame of the Koch brothers, 1959. They bought the manufacturing and distribution rights for Frisk, an organic cleaner, developed by an Ohio scientist and renamed it as Liquid Organic Cleaner or LOC. According to The New York Times, a review of Neurocore's claims and interviews with medical experts suggest that the company's conclusions are unproven and its methods questionable. When pressed for further details about how the Secretary of Education and her family split their riches, the spokesperson did not respond. [123], DeVos has been a controversial figure throughout her tenure. In response to that defeat, DeVos started a PAC, the Great Lakes Education Project, which championed charter schools. [87] This was the first tie decided by a vice president on any vote in the Senate since the George W. Bush administration. Beloved husband of the late Berneita Ann (nee Heyman). [96], On March 24, 2017, during a visit to the Osceola County campus of Valencia College, DeVos said she was considering the extension of federal financial aid for students that were year-round and interested in placing more focus on community colleges. [6] DeVos is a graduate of the Forest Hills public school system. [42] Betsy DeVos's husband, Richard Marvin "Dick" DeVos Jr., is a multi-billionaire heir to the Amway fortune who ran Amway's parent company, Alticor, from 1993 to 2002. Missing Crain's in print? [91], In April 2017, DeVos named Candice Jackson Deputy Assistant Secretary in the department's Office for Civil Rights, where she will be acting assistant secretary while that higher, Senate-confirmed appointment is vacant. In 2008, All Children Matter was fined $5.2million in Ohio for illegally laundering money into political campaign funds. In all, she has disclosed that her share of these outside holdingswhich do not include Amway or the Magicare worth at least $335 million. [16], On November 23, 2016, then-President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate DeVos to serve as Secretary of Education in his administration. Downtown condos are selling for long-ago prices. Industrialist, Businessman. Dick DeVos is a major donor to conservative political campaigns and social causes,[189][190][191] and was the 2006 Republican nominee for Governor of Michigan. [29], In October 2012, DeVos engaged in a series of public debates with Teamsters president James Hoffa, son of that union's legendary leader Jimmy Hoffa. [16][39], The foundation has also given money to organizations that promote free-market economics, such as the Grand Rapids-based Acton Institute; the Heritage Foundation; and the Hudson Institute. [38], DeVos personally raised more than $150,000 for the 2004 Bush re-election campaign,[39] and hosted a Republican fundraiser at her home in October 2008 that was headlined by President George W. In the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Detroit had the lowest reading and mathematics scores "by far" over any city participating in the evaluation. On November 7, 2006, DeVos was defeated by Democratic incumbent Jennifer Granholm by a 14-point margin. He also purchased the Orlando Magic, an NBA franchise. [95], In February 2017, DeVos released a statement calling historically black colleges "real pioneers when it comes to school choice", causing controversy as some pointed out the schools originated after segregation laws prevented African-Americans from attending others. DeVos ran for governor of Michigan in 2006, but lost to Democrat Jennifer Granholm. Allegations abound that Amway has made misleading or false statements about the vitamins it sells; examples of weight loss pills being made and marketed by Amways parent company bolster such claims. The Windquest Group is a privately held investment management firm with holdings in technology, manufacturing, and other sectors. ", He also called for an increase in "funding for secondary and higher education," for a streamlined health-care system "that utilizes technology to reduce hospital errors by making medical records more efficient," and for " strong anti-crime measures, specifically against child predators." The article noted that DeVos was interested in job creation in what was "perhaps the least business-friendly state in the country." The Fund provides private scholarships to low-income families in Michigan with wishes to attend schools of their choice. [82] As expected, there was a 5050 tie on the final vote, with all Democrats and independents, along with two Republicans (Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski), voting in opposition to DeVos, while the other fifty Republican senators voted in support of the confirmation, including Senator Jeff Sessions, who himself had been nominated by the Trump administration for the post of United States attorney general. "[7], When the DeVos family acquired the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic basketball franchise in 1991, DeVos's father, Richard DeVos became president and CEO of the team. President Ronald Reagan made DeVos finance chair of the Republican National Committee. [177], During the 1990s, she served on the boards of Children First America and the American Education Reform Council, which sought to expand school choice through vouchers and tax credits. ", The legislators and Republican governor Rick Snyder "rapidly approved the legislation and delivered a body blow to the labor movement." She grew up in Holland, Michigan, the eldest of four children born to Elsa (Zwiep) Prince (later, Broekhuizen) and Edgar Prince, a billionaire industrialist. It was your social activity. [142][146][147][149][150], With respect to educational-focused donations, the foundation from 1999 to 2014 supported private Christian schools (at least $8.6million), charter schools ($5.2million), and public schools ($59,750). ", During her first visit to a public university on April 6, 2017, DeVos was confronted by around 30 protestors. "I still remember when it was in the basement of our home when I was growing up," he later said. The article noted that debates between DeVos and Granholm had "done little to help either's cause, though they did have an effect on the polls," with support for both candidates dropping and the number of undecided voters increasing. Among Donald Trumps historically rich cabinet members, Betsy DeVos is the richest. He became a billionaire who was listed as the 60th wealthiest person in the United States by Forbes magazine in 2012, with a net worth estimate of $5.4 billion as of 2018. The protesters physically blocked her from entering through the back entrance of Jefferson Academy, a D.C. public middle school in Southwest, Washington, D.C. DeVos was eventually able to enter the school through a side entrance. While popular with the American public[44] as a way to prevent (perceived) unfair domination by the wealthy in politics, DeVos and many other conservatives argue it is an infringement on free speech. DeVos later acknowledged racism as an important factor in the history of historically black colleges. 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