Forbes: Johnny Morris among America's 400 richest

When Forbes this month released its 2013 Richest People in America list, Springfieldian Johnny Morris checked in at No. 110 with a net worth of $4 billion.

The 65-year-old Morris, a Forbes 400 newcomer, is among six Missourians, led by Jack Taylor and family (No. 36, $11.4 billion) of Enterprise-Rent-A-Car in St. Louis. Columbia sports and real estate magnate Stanley Kroenke and his wife, Ann Walton Kroenke, are Nos. 84 and 95, respectively. Combined, they represent $10 billion in net worth, according to Forbes.

The Forbes 400 comes a few months after Bloomberg pinned Morris’ fortune through Bass Pro Shops and Tracker Marine at $2.8 billion on its billionaires index, the first public look at Morris’ net worth.

“I do consider myself a very fortunate man – not because of what Forbes estimates that I am worth financially, but rather because I know for a fact just how richly I have been blessed in my life,” Morris said in a statement to Springfield Business Journal that first credited his family. “I also was blessed to have been born in the greatest nation on Earth where the American free-enterprise system provides us all the opportunity to pursue our dreams, to work hard, to pioneer, to take risks, to succeed or to come up short. I thank God for my blessings and for the opportunity he has given me to work alongside the most amazingly talented and passionate group of people that any day dreamer could ever hope to share his dreams and help make them come true. If that weren’t enough, I get to get up tomorrow and go to work with some great folks – or maybe go fishing, and to me, nothing could be worth much more than that.”

Forbes says Morris, a private, self-made businessman, has contributed $4 million to Community Foundation of the Ozarks, $1 million to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and $900,000 to Curt Gowdy State Park in Wyoming. The publication also identifies key connections for him as retailers Tadashi Yanai and family of Asian apparel company Fast Retailing, self-made Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega of the Zara brand, and Frenchman Bernard Arnault and family of the Louis Vuitton brand.

Pictured on the cover of the Forbes 400 is Bill Gates (No. 1, again, at $72 billion), Warren Buffett (No. 2 at $58.5 billion) and Oprah Winfrey (No. 184, but No.1 on The Celebrity 100, at $2.9 billion).Arvest Bank Chairman and CEO Jim Walton, the youngest son of Wal-Mart Stores founder Sam Walton, is listed No. 7 with a $33.8 billion net worth, but he’s not the highest-ranked Walton. Members of the Walton family rank Nos. 6–9, with Christy Walton and her family leading the Walton fortunes with $35.4 billion. Alice Walton, who spearheaded development of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., is No. 8 at $33.5 billion. Combined, the Waltons in Forbes’ top 10 amass $136 billion in wealth.[[In-content Ad]]