Steve Bing

At the age of 18, he inherited an estimated $600 million from his grandfather, Leo S. Bing, a real estate developer who had made his fortune in New York in the 1920s.

Stephen Leo Bing (March 31, 1965 – June 22, 2020) was an American businessman, film producer, investor, philanthropist, and screenwriter.

He was the founder of Shangri-La Entertainment, an organization with interests in property, construction, entertainment and music.

Bing was born in New York City on March 31, 1965.

His parents were Helen, a nurse, and Peter Bing, a doctor in public health.

He was Jewish on his father's side and Croatian on his mother's. Bing attended the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles.

Beginning with a $500 contribution in 1993 to support Senator Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., in his bid for re-election, Bing contributed more than $10.7 million at the federal level to the Democratic Party and its candidates, according to OpenSecrets.

In 2000, Bing launched his own production company, Shangri-La Entertainment.

He reportedly invested around $85 million to co-finance The Polar Express, an animated film featuring the voice of Tom Hanks, which earned $285 million globally and was one of the year's box-office successes.

He was also the financier of Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf, and the producer/financier of Shine a Light, a Rolling Stones concert film directed by Martin Scorsese.

Bing also financed and produced the independently released Jerry Lee Lewis album Last Man Standing.

87 contributions, in California Bing donated $7.8 million worth from 2000 on, according to the California secretary of state.

In 2001, Bing sued billionaire Kirk Kerkorian for invasion of privacy.

Bing alleged that convicted criminal and private investigator Anthony Pellicano took Bing's dental floss out of his trash to collect his DNA.

At the time, Kerkorian was in a legal fight with his former wife Lisa Bonder, a former professional tennis player, over the amount of child support he would pay, with the billionaire reportedly suspecting Bing (a previous boyfriend) to be the biological father of Bonder's daughter Kira.

After Bing was proven by DNA testing to be the father of Bonder's child, Bing and Kerkorian settled their dispute out of court.

Bing had a relationship with Elizabeth Hurley, which resulted in a pregnancy.

Bing urged Hurley to have an abortion, but Hurley refused.

Bing denied paternity by alleging that he and Hurley had a brief, non-exclusive relationship in 2001.

However, a DNA test established Bing as the child's father.

The biggest checks were written in 2002 when he gave a total of $8.2 million to the Democratic National Committee.

He also gave to specific candidates, including Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein.

Hurley gave birth to Damian Charles Hurley on April 4, 2002.

Hugh Grant is Damian's godfather.

The paternity of Bonder's daughter was revealed by Anthony Pellicano, a private investigator (and wiretapper) hired by Kerkorian's lawyer, who was also a "friend" to Bing.

In addition to his producing and film finance work, he also co-wrote both the screenplay and the story of Kangaroo Jack (2003).

Other beneficiaries of his political pursuits included: the California Democratic Party ($640,172); Governor Gray Davis ($675,000); and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, whose campaign received $750 in 2004.

He spent $4.25 million in 2005 in a successful effort to defeat Prop. 77, a redistricting initiative sponsored by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Bing was reported to have given at least $49.5 million during the 2006 election cycle in support of Proposition 87, a California initiative which sought to raise $4 billion in oil production taxes to help develop alternative fuels.

Bing also supported several key races in other parts of the country as Democrats fought to win back control of Congress.

They included Democratic challenger Bob Casey, Jr. in Pennsylvania, who unseated conservative GOP incumbent Senator Rick Santorum, and future United States senator Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, then a Democratic congressional hopeful and an Army National Guard major who lost her legs in Iraq, who went on to lose to State Senator Peter Roskam in that race.

Excluding Prop.

In October 2008, Bing pledged to match donations made to the NO on Proposition 8 campaign from October 17 to October 19.

On December 18, 2008, the William J. Clinton Foundation released a list of all contributors.

It included Stephen L. Bing, who gave between US$10–25 million.

On August 5, 2009, a 737 private aircraft owned by Bing and based at Hollywood Burbank Airport in Southern California, was utilized in the return of American reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee who had spent 5 months of a 12-year sentence in North Korea.

Former President Bill Clinton was instrumental in their return and accompanied the reporters back to the United States.

Bing reportedly covered the whole cost of the flight, estimated to be around $200,000.

The Los Angeles Business Journal's January 2010 publication of "The Lists 2010" listed him in its "Wealthiest Angelenos" section of the magazine, which estimated his worth at $590 million, coming in at No. 46.

After inheriting his fortune, Bing dropped out of Stanford University in his junior year to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.