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‘Richest Americans’ list includes 4 from Philly

The super-rich got richer, but not so much in the Philadelphia area, according to Forbes' new list of the wealthiest Americans.

Urban Outfitters founder Richard Hayne lives in Philadelphia and is worth about $1.3 billion, making him one of the richest Americans, according to the Forbes 400 list for 2010.
Urban Outfitters founder Richard Hayne lives in Philadelphia and is worth about $1.3 billion, making him one of the richest Americans, according to the Forbes 400 list for 2010.Read moreDAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer

The super-rich got richer, but not so much in the Philadelphia area, according to Forbes' new list of the wealthiest Americans.

No new local names joined the four from last year, and the quartet's estimated collective worth was up less than 3 percent.

Nationwide, however, the Forbes 400 Richest Americans saw their portfolios bulge by 8 percent, as the cutoff to join the club rose to $1 billion from $950 million.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates was still No. 1, but his wealth rose from $50 billion to $54 billion, while investment mogul Warren Buffett, the runnerup again, didn't close the gap enough, as his fortune went from $40 billion to $45 billion.

The Philadelphia-area members are:

Mary Alice Dorrance Malone ranked 144 with $2.5 billion, up from $2.2 billion last year. The Campbell Soup heiress, 60, lives in Coatesville.

Richard Hayne, 63, the Urban Outfitters founder who lives in the city, ranked 308 with $1.3 billion, about the same as a year ago.

James Kim, 74, microchip enterpreneur from Bryn Mawr, also ranked 308 with $1.3 billion, but the wealth of some family members is included, according to Forbes. A year ago, Kim's assets were put at $1.5 billion.

Jeffrey Lurie, 59, owner of the Eagles, joined the list last year, and tied for No. 385 with $1 billion. He lives in Haverford.

An even wealthier person with local ties is Hansjorg Wyss, whose wealth was put at $6.1 billion by Forbes when it ranked the world's billionaires earlier this year. Synthes, the medical device company he ran until a few years ago has offices in West Chester, and Forbes named that as his town of residence. But he's a Swiss citizen - the reason he's never made the Richest Americans list.

Missing the cutoff once again was Dorrance "Dodo" Hamilton, a Campbell heiress who lives in Wayne. She made the Forbes billionaire list in 2009, but last made the 400s Richest Americans list in 2006.

The area's representation began dramatically declining several years before. In 2003, the list included Hamilton, Malone, Kim, publishing heiress Leonore Annenberg, money manager Alfred P. West Jr., soft drink bottler Harold Honickman, cable TV pioneer H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, department store heir George Strawbridge Jr., Aramark's Joseph Neubauer and Comcast's Brian L. Roberts.

Roberts, Neubauer and Strawbridge were off the following year, Lenfest and Honickman left in 2005.

In 2007, only Annenberg, Malone and Kim remained.

Annenberg was listed as a California resident in 2008, and died in March 2009.

Sidney Kimmel, the Jones Apparel founder turned philanthropist and film producer, made the list in 2001 as a Philadelphian, but he's listed as a New Yorker at No. 365 with $1.1 billion.

A new Forbes list of future billionaires includes lots of famous names - comic Jerry Seinfeld, rapper Jay-Z and golfer Tiger Woods - but no Philadelphians.

By the way, former Eagles owner Norman Braman, a graduate of West Philadelphia High and Temple University, is on the list at No. 269 with $1.5 billion. He has long lived in Florida, however.

None of the handful of New Jerseyans on the list live in South Jersey, and no Delawareans made the Forbes 400.

For more, go to www.forbes.com.