Barbara Blair Cox Anthony (December 8, 1922 – May 28, 2007) was the youngest daughter of
James M. Cox, a
Democratic governor of Ohio
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...
, newspaper publisher and broadcaster. With her sister
Anne Cox Chambers and her brother James M. Cox, Jr., she inherited, via a trust, ownership and control of her father's company, now called
Cox Enterprises
Cox Enterprises, Inc. is an American private company, privately held global conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major ope ...
. Upon her brother's death in 1974, the sisters received his share of the company equally.
Her net worth was estimated at $12 billion, based principally on her equity interest in Cox Enterprises, which made her one of the richest women in the United States and the richest resident of
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
.
She served as a Director of Cox Enterprises, one of the largest diversified media companies in the United States. It owns one of the nation's largest
cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
businesses, which provides internet and telephone, publishes newspapers including the ''
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...
'' and ''
The Palm Beach Post
''The Palm Beach Post'' is an American daily newspaper serving Palm Beach County in South Florida, and parts of the Treasure Coast.
On March 18, 2018, in a deal worth US$42.35 million, ''The Palm Beach Post'' and '' The Palm Beach Daily News' ...
'', owns and operates broadcast television and radio stations and owns Manheim, an automobile auction firm. It also owns stakes in a variety of internet businesses, including
AutoTrader.com, the largest retail automotive shopping site in the world. Her son
James C. Kennedy is chairman of Cox Enterprises.
Well known in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
for her support of philanthropic causes, Anthony helped found
La Pietra: Hawaii School for Girls and served as its chair from 1978 until her death in Honolulu in 2007, aged 85, following an extended illness. She also made contributions to the Veterinary School of
Colorado State University
Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University Syst ...
, endowing two chairs in equine health.
Personal life
Anthony was married four times. She did not have children with her first husband, Bradford Ripley, a naval aviator who died in World War II. She had two children with her second husband, airline executive Stanley C. Kennedy, Jr.:
James C. Kennedy, chairman of Cox Enterprises, and
Blair Parry-Okeden, Australia's richest woman.
Sydney Morning Herald: "Gina loses crown as Australia's richest person to little-known heiress"
January 26, 2016 They later divorced. Her third husband was James W. Glover, a successful contractor; he died a few years after their marriage. Her fourth husband was Garner Anthony, Jr., who preceded his stepson James Kennedy as chairman of Cox Enterprises, serving in that position from 1974 to 1987. As Mrs. Bradford Williams Ripley II, she was the ship's sponsor for the aircraft carrier USS Midway (CVB 41) and christened the ship at its launch at Newport News Shipbuilding, Virginia, on March 20, 1945.
See also
*List of billionaires
''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking of people who are billionaires, i.e., they are considered to have a net worth of US$1 billion or more, by the American business magazine ''Forbes''. The list was first published in March 1987. ...
*Forbes 400
The ''Forbes'' 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes'' magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is ...
References
External links
NY Times obit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Barbara Cox
1922 births
2007 deaths
American billionaires
American mass media owners
Cox family
Businesspeople from Honolulu
Female billionaires
20th-century American businesspeople