Sid Bass

(1942-04-09) April 9, 1942

Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.

Yale University
Stanford University

Investor, philanthropist

Anne Hendricks Bass (divorced)
Mercedes Bass (divorced)

Hyatt Bass Samantha Bass

Perry Richardson Bass
Nancy Lee Bass

Sid W. Richardson (great-uncle)
Lee Bass (brother)
Ed Bass (brother)
Robert Bass (brother)
Josh Klausner (son-in-law)

Early life[edit]

Sid Richardson Bass was born on April 9, 1942. His father, Perry Richardson Bass (died 2006), built an oil fortune with uncle, Sid W. Richardson. He graduated from Yale University in 1965,[1] and also has a degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Career[edit]

Bass took control of the family business in 1968. His investments include oil and gas. Along with his father and two of his brothers, he was the largest shareholder in The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until after the stock market crash in 2001. Bass was forced to sell his Disney holdings as a result of a margin call.


In 2007, he had a net worth of US$3 billion.[2]


In 2020, he was ranked No.359 in the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America.[3]

Philanthropy[edit]

Bass donated $20 million to Yale University for the study of humanities in 1990.[1] In 2006, Bass and his second wife, Mercedes Bass, made a gift of $25 million to the Metropolitan Opera, at the time the largest individual gift in the company's history.[4]

Personal life[edit]

His first wife was Anne Hendricks Bass, with whom he had two daughters: author Hyatt Bass and Samantha Bass. He divorced Anne Bass in 1986.[5] In 1988, Bass married the Iranian-American socialite Mercedes Bass, formerly Mercedes Kellogg, née Tavacoli. This childless marriage ended in divorce in 2011.[6][7]