Early life
Donald Friese was born in 1940 in York, Pennsylvania, the third of 13 children. After his high school graduation, he joined the U.S. Army in 1958, trained as a missile mechanic, and was stationed in Taiwan and Okinawa. He served in the army for 3 years before moving to Los Angeles with $125 in his pocket to find a job.Career
Friese started at C.R. Laurence in Los Angeles, which then had just one location, with an "entry-level job", as its sixth employee. A few years later, Bernie Harris, the owner, sold him a 10% stake, and he gradually acquired more, eventually buying Harris out when he retired. When Harris retired in 1997, he bought the 50% he did not already own. Friese expanded the business by acquiring competitors and launching a manufacturing operation. By 2015, the company manufactured more than 65,000 products for the glass industry. In 2015, he sold the company to the Irish conglomerate CRH plc for $1.3 billion cash, retaining most of the real estate and continuing as CEO. It was reported that Friese made $885 million from the sale of the company.Personal life
Friese has been married to Andrea for 55 years (as of 2019), and lives in Chatsworth, Los Angeles. They have a weekend house in Malibu, California, Malibu. They have three children.References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friese, Donald 1940 births American billionaires Living people People from Chatsworth, Los Angeles Businesspeople from Los Angeles People from York, Pennsylvania