Donald Friese

Donald Friese was born in 1940 in York, Pennsylvania, the third of 13 children.[2] After his high school graduation, he joined the U.S. Army in 1958, trained as a missile mechanic, and was stationed in Taiwan and Okinawa.[2]

He served in the army for 3 years before moving to Los Angeles with $125 in his pocket to find a job.[3]

Friese started at C.R. Laurence in Los Angeles, which then had just one location, with an "entry-level job", as its sixth employee.[1][2] A few years later, Bernie Harris, the owner, sold him a 10% stake, and he gradually acquired more, eventually buying Harris out when he retired.[2] When Harris retired in 1997, he bought the 50% he did not already own.[3]

Friese expanded the business by acquiring competitors and launching a manufacturing operation. By 2015, the company manufactured more than 65,000 products for the glass industry.[3]

In 2015, he sold the company to the Irish conglomerate CRH plc for $1.3 billion cash, retaining most of the real estate and continuing as CEO.[2] It was reported that Friese made $885 million from the sale of the company.[3]

Friese has been married to Andrea for 55 years (as of 2019), and lives in Chatsworth, Los Angeles.[1][2] They have a weekend house in Malibu.[2] They have three children.[2]