The newest Forbes survey of America’s wealthiest immigrants offers a portrait of the country at its most ambitious. One hundred twenty-five foreign-born billionaires now live in the United States with a combined fortune of $1.3 trillion. Their fortunes trace journeys that began far from Wall Street or Silicon Valley and show how the promise of the American dream still draws talent from around the world.
Among those global figures, such as Elon Musk from South Africa and Google co-founder Sergey Brin from Russia, three men of Greek heritage stand out. Their careers carry the imprint of the Greek diaspora: the perseverance of families who crossed an ocean for opportunity, the drive to build something lasting, and the instinct to give back. From Red Apple supermarkets to food brands such as Hostess, Bumble Bee Tuna, and Chef Boyardee, and across the West Coast skyline, these three have turned immigrant beginnings into a legacy of wealth and public service.
John Catsimatidis – From Stockboy to Billionaire Energy Investor
John Catsimatidis arrived from Greece as an infant and grew up helping in a Red Apple supermarket while studying at New York University. By the age of twenty five he owned ten of the stores and had already set his sights beyond groceries.
Over the decades, he built the privately held Red Apple Group into a $7.8 billion enterprise spanning retail, real estate, oil refining, and energy, with an estimated net worth of $4.8 billion as of September 2025.
He continues to reshape city skylines. Catsimatidis’s company is building a 12-story, 104-unit mixed-use tower at 280 Eighth Avenue, financed with a $57 million loan, and has purchased the neighbouring site at 253 West 24th Street for $22.5 million. In St. Petersburg, Florida, he already dominates the skyline with the Residences at 400 Central and is now planning a second 23-story tower near Mirror Lake.
Through United Nuclear Group, he is investing in small modular nuclear reactors, a long-term bet on cleaner energy worth tens of billions. His philanthropy ranges from scholarships to hurricane relief and children’s programs in St. Petersburg (The National Herald 2025), proof that his success is measured in more than dollars.
Dean Metropoulos – The Deal Maker Who Brought Iconic Brands Back to Life
Dean Metropoulos came to the United States as a child and by thirty two had bought his first company, a modest Vermont cheese maker. That early step launched a career devoted to transforming well known brands.
Metropoulos has engineered more than 86 acquisitions and SPAC deals, directing over $58 billion toward iconic names. He famously rescued Hostess, Bumble Bee Tuna, and Chef Boyardee, taking Hostess public three years after its 2013 turnaround and selling it to J.M. Smucker for $5.6 billion in 2023. In late 2024, he spun off Nestlé’s U.S. and Canadian spring water brands as Primo Brands, bringing them to market through an IPO.
His fortune is estimated at $4.1 billion as of September 2025, but his influence reaches far beyond boardrooms. A Giving Pledge signatory with his family, Metropoulos supports cancer research, youth leadership initiatives, and the Dean Metropoulos Institute of Technology & Entrepreneurship at Babson College, which he endowed in 2024.
George Marcus – The Visionary Behind a West Coast Real Estate Empire
George Marcus left the Greek island of Evia at the age of four and grew up in California, believing opportunity was something you created. In 1971, he co-founded Marcus & Millichap, now handling over $50 billion in commercial real estate transactions each year. Later, he co-founded Essex Property Trust, which owns interests in 246 communities comprising about 60,000 apartment homes (The National Herald 2025).
Marcus has matched his business success with far-reaching philanthropy. He donated $25 million in 2018 to San Francisco State University’s arts programs and $3 million to its Greek Studies program, and he continues to support the Ecumenical Patriarchate, International Orthodox Christian Charities, and other cultural institutions. His celebrated Bay Area restaurants Evvia Estiatorio and Kokkari Estiatorio keep Greek culture alive in the city he calls home.
His personal fortune is about $1.5 billion as of September 2025, yet his career is defined as much by cultural and educational philanthropy as by wealth.
Wealth with a Hellenic Heart
Their stories trace a single arc of ambition and renewal. From a modest Harlem grocery that grew into global energy projects, from the rescue of Hostess and the revival of Bumble Bee Tuna and Chef Boyardee before launching Primo Brands, and from the transformation of West Coast skylines to the endowment of Greek studies, these men embody the immigrant spirit that once carried their parents across the Atlantic and still drives the American dream today.
Featured image: John Catsimatidis, Dean Metropoulos, and George Marcus.