Sam Fox (with Marilyn)
March 5, 2001 Sam Fox purchased a sunken replica of the Santa Maria for $1 three decades ago, and he's been making a fortune from hidden treasures ever since. The Harbour Group, the investment company he founded in 1976, has acquired more than 120 manufacturers that produce everything from funnels and industrial springs to pressure washers and do-it-yourself repair kits. Fox insists that Harbour does not engage in leveraged buyouts. "We don't traffic in companies," he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We build companies. They are not a piece of meat." But Fox wastes little time in carving up and selling the firms he buys. His business philosophy, according to the St. Louis Business Journal, is simple: "invest heavily in new technology, equipment, and management knowhow, then consolidate similar operations to cut costs and boost efficiency." Harbour then cashes in by taking a company public or selling it. In 1999, the company enjoyed annual revenues of $1.5 billion. Fox used his wealth to back George W. Bush, joining the ranks of the Bush Pioneers, and he and his wife Marilyn are particularly active in promoting the views of Jewish Republicans. Marilyn Fox was the first woman president of the Jewish Community Centers Association in its 112 year history, and her husband is a chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition. The RJC supports a strong Israel and commends Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole, and the Republican leadership of Congress for trying to strengthen Israeli claims on Jerusalem by moving the U.S. Embassy to the contested city from Tel Aviv. During the presidential campaign, the group took out a full page ad in the New York Times to condemn Senator Joseph Lieberman's overtures to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Fox has continued his financial and political support of the GOP since Bush was elected. In January, during Senate confirmation hearings, the coalition paid for television ads in Washington, D.C. supporting the nomination of John Ashcroft as attorney general. Fox led the $65,000 publicity effort on behalf of his fellow Missouri Republican. Fox is one of eight leaders of the RJC on the Mother Jones 400. Others include Lawrence Kadish (No. 38, $532,900), Max M. Fisher (No. 70, $405,500), John Price (No. 57, $467,550), Earle I. Mack (No. 125, $298,000), Clifford M. Sobel (No. 294, $192,700), Lewis M. Eisenberg (No. 328, $176,400), and David M. Flaum (No. 367, $162,800). Fox got involved in politics during the 1980s out of concern for the growing federal deficit. "There is something wrong when we have to borrow $1 billion every day, and that's what we're doing," he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I am worried we are spending ourselves into bankruptcy." Although it was Bill Clinton who pushed to pay down the debt after 12 years of GOP increases, Fox credits Republicans in Congress for erasing the deficit and turning the economy around. "What I am interested in is the election of good solid thinkers," he says. "People who have their head screwed on right and their feet on the ground." -- Helene Blatter | | |
