Although excluded from the 2022 Forbes Richest People list, H-E-B’s Butt Family is estimated to be worth around $17 billion. Charles Butt (center) is posing with music icon Flaco Jimenez and Gov. Greg Abbott in this photo. Credit: Photo via Facebook / H-E-B
Three San Antonio residents, including car dealership mogul B.J. “Red” McCombs, are among the richest people in the world, according to Forbes’ 2022 billionaire rankings.

The richest man in San Antonio, however, is Christopher Goldsbury, according to Forbes. Ranked as the 1,645th-richest person in the world with a net worth of $1.8 billion, Goldsbury struck it rich after selling San Antonio-based Pace Foods to Campbell Soup Co. for $1.12 billion in 1994. He gained the ownership stake when he married heiress Linda Pace.

Tied with McCombs as the second-richest person in the Alamo City is James Leininger. Forbes ranks both McCombs and Leininger as the 1,729th-richest people in the world. Each has a net worth of $1.7 billion. Leininger made his billion by selling medical devices as founder of San Antonio-based Kinetic Concepts Inc.

Of course, a list of the richest people in San Antonio isn’t complete without the Butt family, who own and operate the massive H-E-B grocery chain. Although the Butts were estimated to be worth around $17.8 billion in 2020, H-E-B Chairman and CEO Charles H. Butt is excluded from the Forbes richest person list due to the fortune being split among his siblings, MySA reports.

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This article appears in Apr 6-19, 2022.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...