Forbes names Peter Kellogg as New Jersey's richest resident with $5.8B
Peter Kellogg is New Jersey's richest resident with $5.8 billion.
The short version
- The 84-year-old investor lives in Short Hills.
- He sold his brokerage to Goldman Sachs in 2000.
- Now your state shares the map with billionaires nationwide.
New Jersey has a new richest resident, according to a newly released Forbes ranking. Peter Kellogg, a Short Hills-based billionaire investor and former Wall Street brokerage executive, now holds the top spot in the state with an estimated $5.8 billion fortune, according to NJBIZ.
The 84-year-old built his wealth through decades of investments. After joining brokerage house Spear, Leeds & Kellogg in 1973, he eventually took over the firm. Under his leadership, it became the first specialist brokerage to control more than 10% of stocks trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
In 2000, he sold the firm to Goldman Sachs, which owns banking and investment operations, for $6.5 billion in cash. He then turned his attention to reinsurance firm IAT, leading it as CEO until 2015 and continuing to serve as a chair.
Forbes noted that Kellogg has donated more than $4 million to the U.S. ski and snowboarding teams. He also appeared on the 2026 Forbes 400 list at number 277 and the world billionaires list at number 780. New Jersey is among six states where one billionaire leapfrogged ahead of another due to rising fortunes or moves.
The previous titleholder, John Overdeck, co-founder and chairman of hedge fund Two Sigma, moved to a $72 million waterfront estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Across the country, other household names top their home states, including Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg in California with $246 billion and SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk in Texas with $1 trillion.
It turns out the Garden State's wealthiest neighbor made his billions the old-fashioned way on the trading floor.
