Terrence Pegula
Boca Raton, Florida
Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Pennsylvania State University
United States
Buffalo Sabres
9
natural gas, Self Made
$4,500,000,000
424
4
#424 Billionaires 2019
#153 Forbes 400 2018
Terry Pegula made a fortune in fracking and has since turned it into a sports empire that includes the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres.His oil and gas outfit, East Resources, sold the bulk of its assets to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion in 2010.He bought the Sabres the next year for $189 million and in 2014 outbid groups led by Donald Trump and Bon Jovi to pick up the Bills for $1.4 billion.A former math major, Pegula switched to petroleum engineering on a scholarship and joined Getty Oil after graduation.He founded East Resources in 1983 with a $7,500 loan from friends and family to drill sand wells, and still has oil and gas interests in three states.A Penn State alumnus, Pegula donated $102 million to the university to fund a new arena and launch a NCAA Division I hockey program.
His daughter, Jessica Pegula, is a professional tennis player.He and wife Kim spent some $220 million to create HarborCenter, an entertainment complex near the Sabres' arena that features 2 ice rinks, a hotel and a restaurant.
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