Stock, real estate boosted holdings in Orange County: Irvine's Co.'s Bren top list of area's richest.

Fox's hit series "The OC" shows Orange County as an "idyllic paradise, a wealthy, harbor-front community where everything and everyone appears to be perfect."

An exaggeration, to be sure, but there's no denying OC's wealth.

Orange County's richest people count a collective net worth of $24 billion, according to the Orange County Business Journal's fourth annual list.

The cutoff to make the list is $250 million. The floor for the Top 10 was $700 million, $200 million more than last year.

The list includes six billionaires, including multibillionaire Donald Bren.

The wealthy on this year's list are $2 billion richer than they were a year ago, with rising real estate values and stock prices pushing up net worth.

One of the biggest gains came from Bren, chairman of the Irvine Co. His net worth is estimated at $7.5 billion, up from $7 billion in 2003.

Also raised was the net worth of Ernest Rady, chief executive of Irvine-based Westcorp Inc., to $2 billion from $1.5 billion. Rady's shares in Westcorp, which are up 30 percent in the past year, make up the bulk of the estimate.

William Lyon comes in at $500 million, more than double that of last year, based on the rising share price of William Lyon Homes Inc.

For Victor and Janie Tsao, co-founders of Irvine-based computer networking products maker Linksys, stock was the driver. Their net worth rose to $600 million from $500 million last year, based on the rise in the stock value of Cisco Systems Inc., which bought Linksys in 2003.

Along with Lyon, venture capitalist Robert Hoff returned to the list this year after appearing in 2002. He has an estimated $250 million.

The recent market downdraft has had its effect: Broadcom Corp. co-founders Henry Nicholas and Henry Samueli, Quest Software Inc.'s Vinny Smith and Oakley Inc.'s Jim Jannard all were richer just a couple of months ago.

The net worth calculations are based on stocks, real estate and other assets held by individuals after debt, stock exercising costs and other factors. They include shares or other assets held in family trusts or family-owned corporations controlled by an individual.

To understand how Orange County got rich is to know how it developed, luring transplants from Los Angeles and drawing money from elsewhere via aerospace, tourism and other industries. Railways, roads and master planning round out the story.

"Orange County grew rich because Orange County attracted the educated," said Christopher Thornberg, a senior economist at UCLA's Anderson School. "When you attract the educated and successful, your economy becomes rich. That's the game that all areas are trying to play."

Key examples are Arnold O. Beckman and Bren.

Beckman, the recently deceased founder of what's now Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc., started the medical diagnostic and research company in Pasadena before making the move south to Fullerton in 1954.

Bren. Orange County's richest person, grew up in Beverly Hills before launching his real estate career with Mission Viejo Co.

It wasn't simply the drive of these people but the types of companies they built. In the years after World War II, tourism and defense/aerospace accounted for big parts of Orange County's economy.

These industries created wealth because they drew money from elsewhere. In the years after World War II, when defense and aerospace contractors were locating and expanding here, those dollars came courtesy of Washington.

"Aerospace did quite a bit," said Esmael Adibi, professor of economics at Chapman University in Orange. "Clearly coming out of the '60s and the Cold War, the Korean conflict and Vietnam, the spending on defense had been increasing year alter year. We did have some major defense contractors in the county taking advantage of the high-skilled labor."

The trend continued in the 1980s, when President Ronald Reagan vastly expanded defense spending, providing a major infusion of capital into defense contractors such as Bren: Wealthier Rockwell International and McDonnell Douglas. Tourism, led by Walt Disney's vision in Anaheim and the growth of Walter and Cordelia Knott's Knott's Berry Farm. has had a similar impact.

That fits the story as witnessed by Ray Watson, a director of the Irvine Co. who helped lead the developer through the 1960s and '70s. He also played a role in the growth of Disneyland when he served as chairman of Walt Disney Co.

An architect and planner by education, the 77-year-old Watson still lives in the same house he bought in 1964, having paid $38,000 as a leasehold ($50,000 when the land is imputed into the price). His property now is worth more than $1 million.

Drawing people was key for the county's landowners. "it was the genius of landowners," said Tim Cooley, managing director of Cooley & Associates, an Irvine-based corporate strategic consulting and planning firm. "They had to figure out how to raise the value of their asset."

Along with aerospace and defense, schools helped spur the rise of technology by providing a setting that eventually led to the creation of hubs such as the Irvine Spectrum, home to Broadcom, Toshiba Corp. and others.

Watson said the key factor in the development of central Orange County was the University of California's decision to locate a campus in Irvine. Of 21 sites that were considered, six were on the Irvine Ranch. A study, at the time concluded that "the Irvine Co. (should) build a town and a city around the university."

So UCI was started in what then was an outlying area of Orange County. Irvine Co. officials set out to develop the land around it. Not long after, business owners and "industries came and they wanted to know where will I live?" Watson said.

That was followed by the creation of a subsidiary to focus on developing "a tax base to bring people down (from Los Angeles)."

Initial plans called for the sale of 25 acres of land per year to people who then would move and build companies in their new buildings.

"Very shortly we were doing 250 acres per year," Watson said. "That turned out to be 50 percent of all industrial sales being done in the county year after year."

Today, much of that industrial base still stands around John Wayne Airport. Among hose that moved from Los Angeles County to Irvine: St. John Knits International Inc. and Allergan Inc., the latter after a stint in Santa Ana.

O.C.'s Richest

Net worth for most increased in 2003.

                                          Estimated Worth
                                           (in billions)

Donald Bren, Irvine Co.                        $7.5
Ernest S. Rady, Westcorp Inc.                   2
Henry Nicholas, Broadcom Corp.                  1.6
Henry Samueli, Broadcom Corp.                   1.55
Roland Arnall, Ameriquest Capital Corp.         1.2
George Argyros, Arnel & Affiliates              1
Anne Catherine Getty Earhart,
 J. Paul Getty heiress                          0.775
Caroline Getty, J. Paul Getty heiress           0.775
Igor Olenicoff, Olen Properties Corp.           0.75
James Jannard, Oakley Inc.                      0.7

MICHAEL LYSTER AND NIDAL M. IBRAHIM

Orange County Business Journal