Catherine Lozick

Catherine Lozick inherited a majority stake in Swagelok, the Cleveland-based water valve company her father Fred Lennon cofounded with a $500 loan in 1947. Lennon died in 1998, and for years it was a mystery who got his inheritance, the final secret for a man whose motto was "Secrecy is success, success is secrecy." But the entrepreneur confounded his own plans when he reportedly gave John Lennon, his son, only $25 million and each of his grandchildren $50,000 while passing on the bulk of the estate to Lozick. That drew a 2002 lawsuit by John's son William against Lozick and her trustees that exposed the inner workings of the family's financials. William sought to block a complex trust arrangement that had Lozick inheriting the entire estate 21 years after her father's death. The language of the trust stipulated that the trustees could award the trust's assets to Lozick at any time prior to that 21 years, but also noted that if she were to die before they did, the fortune would go to Lennon's grandchildren. Catherine settled with her nephew, agreeing to pay each grandchild an additional $1.25 million, and the trustees noted in court documents that the trust's assets were distributed to Lozick in April 2003, making her the new, equally secretive, billionaire owner of her father's company.