First Mainer Makes Forbes Richest 400 Americans List

Forbes Magazine named this Scarborough resident one of the 400 wealthiest living Americans.

You know the family, and Bangor Daily News reports that Susan Alfond, who lives in Scarborough, Maine is now one of the richest Americans. Her father was Harold Alfond who founded Dexter Shoe Company. Susan and her brothers, Bill and Ted, are estimated to each have a personal wealth of $3.4 billion putting them all on the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans.

Her brothers live in Massachusetts (they grew up in Maine). Bill and Ted Alfond are part of Fenway Sports, which owns the Boston Red Sox and other sports teams.

How did a Mainer make the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans?

It's all about the stocks. The Alfonds as we know founded Dexter Shoe Co. They made plenty of money with that, but the wealth came in when the patriarch traded the ownership of Dexter Shoe Co. for Berkshire Hathaway stock headed by Warren Buffet, the fifth on the Forbes' list. Alfond is 388 on the list.

Did other Mainers make the list of the richest Americans?

There are several other billionaires with ties to Maine, but that's only because they own giant summer mansions on the coast. For instance, Edward C. Johnson IV, worth nearly 13 billion dollars, has a summer home on Mount Desert Island. There's also John C. Malone who is one of the largest landowners in the entire country. That includes almost 1 million acres in Maine! He is generous, he and his wife gave $25 million to Maine Medical Center.

At least they are spreading the wealth in a state they call part-time home.