Meet Lukas Walton, the fiercely private heir to the Walmart empire who has donated millions from his fortune to find solutions to environmental problems

Lukas Walton is the grandson of Sam Walton, founder of Walmart and Sam's Club.

Source: Forbes, The New York Times

Lukas' father, John T. Walton, was Sam's second-oldest son. In 2005, John died while piloting an ultra-light, homemade aircraft that crashed shortly after takeoff.

Source: The New York Times, Business Insider, Bloomberg

Lukas grew up in National City in San Diego County, a town with a median household income of over $51,000 as of 2021.

Source: Intelligencer, US Census Bureau

 

When he was only 3 years old, Lukas was diagnosed with a rare kidney cancer that spread to his lungs.

Source: Intelligencer

Within 5 months he had recovered, which his mother, Christy, attributed to a plant-based diet with produce sourced from her own garden.

Source: Intelligencer

Following John's premature death, Christy and Lukas moved to Jackson, Wyoming.

Source: Intelligencer, Forbes

John left about one-sixth of his fortune to his wife, Christy, one-third to his only son, Lukas, and the remaining half to charitable trusts.

Source: Bloomberg, Forbes

Lukas also inherited his father's 20% interest in Walton Enterprises, the family holding company that, together with a different family trust, owns more than a 50% stake in Walmart.

Source: Business Insider, Bloomberg

Forbes listed Lukas as the 29th-richest American in 2022 but gave him a self-made score of one (out of 10), indicating that he inherited his fortune but is not actively increasing it.

Source: Forbes

Lukas attended Colorado College, where he created his own major focusing on environmentally sustainable business and later studied energy efficiency and hydrological and geothermal energy in Iceland.

Source: Forbes, Intelligencer, Walton Family Foundation

Rob Walton, the eldest son of Sam Walton, believes that his family's "environmental focus really grew out of a family connection to the land."

Source: Walton Family Foundation

Sam and his wife, Helen, are said to have instilled a love for the environment in their children and grandchildren, with yearly outings to places like the Buffalo National River, Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon.

Source: Walton Family Foundation

In recent years Lukas has applied his studies and passion for sustainable business to investments and projects undertaken by the Walton Family Foundation, an organization aimed at finding solutions to social and environmental problems.

Source: Walton Family Foundation

Lukas serves as the environment program committee chair and is also a board member for the organization. He is reported to have donated at least $150 million of his own fortune to the foundation.

Source: Walton Family Foundation, Forbes

Forbes reports that between 2014 and 2018 the Walton Family Foundation donated almost $1 billion to K-12 education programs and $441 million to environmental projects.

Source: Forbes, Walton Family Foundation

On the foundation's work, Lukas recalled that "one of the first grants that we did back in the day was help to develop a sustainable fisheries label. That to me, was a shooting star, was a golden emblem of what would be a successful marketplace development."

Source: Walton Family Foundation

In 2021, Lukas founded and publicly launched Builder's Vision, a Chicago-based philanthropic group working to tackle social and environmental problems.

Source: Fast Company

Lukas Walton is the richest person in Illinois, according to the Chicago Tribune. In July 2022, he and his wife, Samantha, sold their home in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood for $1.7 million, the paper reported.

Source: Chicago Tribune

Lukas keeps a low public profile. He has no known social media sites and other personal details are largely absent online.

Source: Business Insider