Charles Hurwitz


Charles Hurwitz is a financier known for his role in the Savings and loan crisis and his takeover of Pacific Lumber Company, a logging company active in Humboldt County, California. His holdings have included Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, pari-mutual racing facilities in Texas, real estate developments throughout the Southwest and the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas; retail store complexes in western New York; a golf resort in Florida and a hotel-condominium resort and 1,300 acres developed in Puerto Rico. His company built a $75-million resort hotel in Rancho Mirage, Calif., overcoming opposition from residents, including Frank Sinatra.
Hurwitz was born and raised in Kilgore, Texas. He gained control of the United Savings Association of Texas, the largest savings and loan in the state, in 1982, and took over Pacific Lumber Company in 1985.
Hurwitz later added Kaiser Aluminum to his holdings.
Hurwitz's company, Pacific Lumber, a subsidiary of Maxxam, owned the largest grove of old-growth redwood trees in California. Logging in the redwood groves angered conservationists and led to a California bond issue to release funds to purchase the redwoods for preservation.
The environmental organization Earth First! offered a $50,000 reward for "information leading to the arrest, conviction, and jailing of corporate raider Charles Hurwitz." Hurwitz was sued by the FDIC in connection with the failure of the United Savings Association of Texas in 1995. Hurwitz countersued, claiming that the suit was motivated by the government's desire to gain control of the Headwaters Forest Reserve. Ultimately, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes ruled in Hurwitz's favor, and ordered the agency to pay "for its betrayal of the public trust, its vindictive political assault on a private citizen" - $72 million in attorneys fees.
Hurwitz shies away from publicity and rarely gives interviews.