When we think of wealth in New Jersey we often think of celebrities. But famous folks like Bon Jovi and Pesci and Springsteen can’t hold a candle to the juggernaut wealth of some business families.

When those businesses were started generations ago and passed down to heirs who keep running them today we are talking wealth so great that if you added the 25 richest families in America together they’d be as wealthy as the 17th richest nation.

Even Phil Murphy’s $80 million net worth is chump change by comparison.

A few months ago Slacker put together a list, derived from 2020 data by Forbes, of the 25 richest families in America. How many would you guess are from New Jersey?

As you read the impressive list below keep in mind a business might be now headquartered not in the same state as where the family is from. Go ahead and look at the jaw-dropping wealth of these American families and how they made such fortunes and as you do, see if you can figure out which ones are from the Garden State.

I’ll tell you at the end. Now I’ll give you a few hints first.

Maybe think of being sick as a child? Perhaps think of a white rapper? Kind of think of your fingers getting dirty?

Too obscure? Read on.

25 richest families in America

To find out which clans hold the most wealth, Stacker compiled a list of the 25 richest families in America using 2020 data from Forbes.

I'm guessing when you got to number 19, the Dorrance family, you remembered Campbell's Soup company is headquartered in Camden, New Jersey. (Remember being a sick child and mom heating up Campbell's chicken noodle soup?) John T. Dorrance was not a chef or a cook. He was a chemist. He invented the process of making condensed soup. The rest is history.

Campbells Soup Reports Poor Quarterly Earnings
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He became president of the company in 1914 and later bought out the Campbell family but kept the name and turned it into one of America’s longest-lasting brands. Dorrance was voted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2012. He died at the young age of 56 in Cinnaminson Twp..

Next, you might not know the name Samuel Irving Newhouse but your fingers have gotten dirty because of him and his heirs. Dirty with the ink from newsprint. (Yeah, remember newspapers? Lol) Newhouse started what became an international multimedia publishing company.

Now in his mid 90s much of his family went into the business too. Steven O. Newhouse became the editor of the Jersey Journal. Michael Andrew Newhouse became assistant publisher of Times of Trenton. Members of the Newhouse family often stayed on a farm they owned in New Jersey. In Ron Burgundy terms, they’re kiiiind of a big deal.

Finally if the white rapper clue made you think of Macklemore boy were you way off. How about Eminem? As in M&Ms the candy, made by Mars, owned by the Mars family. Candy heiress Jacqueline Mars, now 83, lived for a long time in Bedminster, New Jersey and of course M&Ms and other Mars candy is still made in Hackettstown.

 

LOOK: Here is the richest town in each state

Just saying the names of these towns immediately conjures up images of grand mansions, luxury cars, and ritzy restaurants. Read on to see which town in your home state took the title of the richest location and which place had the highest median income in the country. Who knows—your hometown might even be on this list.

25 richest people in America and how they did it

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