Who

Andrew Tisch is the billionaire co-chair of Loews Corp., the company founded by his father and uncle. Together with his brother, Jim Tisch, and his first cousin, Jonathan Tisch, Andrew oversees a holding company involved in hotels, oil, and insurance.

Backstory

Larry Tisch and his younger brother, Bob, founded the family business in 1946 when they borrowed money from their parents to purchase a small motel in New Jersey for $375,000. Within a decade, they'd amassed a collection of hotel properties in New York and Florida, and expanded further with the 1968 acquisition of Lorillard, the giant tobacco holding company. In 1974, they waged a nearly nine-month battle to acquire the financial services company CNA; the company grew yet again when they bought the watchmaker Bulova. The 1980s brought the Tisch brothers their most high-profile and controversial deal: the purchase of a major stake in CBS. After cashing out their stake, the Tisches spent the '90s picking up oil rigs, tankers, and gas pipelines.

Like his brother and cousin—with whom he makes up the triumvirate now in charge of the family business—Andrew has been involved with the company his entire career. In the 1980s, he served as president of Bulova; a decade later, he moved over to Lorillard. Heading up a cigarette manufacturer during the tobacco wars of the 1990s didn't make for the easiest job: Andrew was the unlucky member of the family who had to stand in front of Congress and argue that cigarettes did not cause cancer. Naturally, he also had to deal with the years of litigation and thousands of lawsuits that followed.

Of note

Loews generates more than $16 billion in annual revenue and has interests in oil and gas, financial services, watches, real estate, and hotels. (As for the movie chain that bears the company name, the family sold it in 1985.) Following the deaths of Larry and Bob, the reins were handed to Andrew's brother, Jim, who now serves as CEO. (Despite early speculation that Andrew had hoped to land the top job, there doesn't seem to be any ill will between the brothers.) As co-chair, Andrew oversees the Bulova brand; the other major asset under his purview, Lorillard, was recently spun off by Loews. His first cousin Jon oversees the company's hotel business.

Family ties

Andrew's other first cousin—Jon's brother—is Steve Tisch, the movie mogul who produced Forrest Gump, Risky Business, and other big-budget Hollywood films. Andrew has two other brothers: Tom Tisch and Dan Tisch. Both own significant stakes in Loews Corp., but are not involved on a day-to-day basis.

Pet causes

The Tisch family has donated to a wide variety of causes over the years. One of the biggest beneficiaries has been NYU, which has received more than $100 million from the Tisches since the 1960s. (Hence the Tisch School of the Arts and Tisch Hospital at NYU Medical Center.) As for Andrew, he sits on the board of PENCIL, the nonprofit known for its "Principal for a Day" program, as well as the City Parks Foundation.

Personal

Andrew is divorced from his first wife, Susan Hiat Tisch, who happens to be the sister of Merryl Tisch, the wife of Jim Tisch. Andrew has since remarried Ann Rubenstein Tisch, a former reporter for NBC who co-founded an all-girls public school in Harlem. Andrew has a total of four kids, including two kids— Alexander and Lacey—with his first wife. Andrew and Ann live at 895 Park Avenue; in 2008 they paid $18 million for a duplex adjacent to their own, combining the units to create a 29-room, 14-bathroom, full-block co-op.