How Steven built the fortune
Rales and his younger brother Mitchell began as buyers of companies in the early 1980s, using borrowed money to acquire manufacturing businesses that larger investors overlooked. In 1984 they folded their holdings into a former real estate investment trust and renamed it Danaher, after a creek in Montana where they had gone fishing. That listed company became the vehicle for everything that followed, and the brothers' shares in it, held over four decades, are the main source of Steven's wealth.
What set Danaher apart was its operating method rather than any single product. The company adopted a version of the Toyota production system, which it calls the Danaher Business System, and applied it to every business it bought: cutting waste, improving quality and freeing up cash for the next acquisition. Repeated over hundreds of deals, this approach turned a collection of tool and instrument makers into a highly valued company.
Over time Danaher shifted its weight from industrial goods towards life sciences and diagnostics. Purchases such as Beckman Coulter in 2011, Pall in 2015 and the biopharma business of General Electric, renamed Cytiva, in 2020 moved it into laboratory equipment, filtration and the tools used to develop and make biological drugs. The company also spun off its industrial and dental units, so the remaining Danaher is focused on health and science.
Companies and holdings
Rales is chairman of the Danaher board and owns a substantial stake alongside his brother. His wider business interests include:
- Danaher Corporation, the life sciences and diagnostics group he cofounded
- Fortive, the industrial technology company Danaher spun off in 2016, in which he kept shares
- Veralto, the water quality and product identification business separated from Danaher in 2023
- Indian Paintbrush, a film production and finance company he founded
The brothers also started Colfax, an industrial company that later reorganised into separate businesses. Envista, the dental business, was separated from Danaher in 2019. Each separation handed existing shareholders, including the Rales family, stock in a new listed company.
The spinoffs reflect a deliberate strategy. Rather than keep every business under one roof, Danaher's board has repeatedly separated units that no longer fit its focus, allowing each to be valued on its own by investors. Fortive and Veralto in turn adopted their own versions of the Danaher Business System, and both have pursued acquisitions of their own. For the founding family, this means their wealth now sits across several listed companies that share a common operating culture.
Early life and career
Steven Rales was born on 31 March 1951 and grew up in the Washington, D.C. area, where his father, Norman Rales, ran a building supply business. He studied at DePauw University in Indiana and later earned a law degree from Fordham University in New York.
Instead of practising law for long, he joined his brother in buying companies. Their early deals relied heavily on debt, which was typical of the period, and they gained a reputation as aggressive corporate raiders, including an unsuccessful attempt to take over a large industrial company in the late 1980s. As Danaher matured, the brothers stepped back from daily management and handed the chief executive role to professional managers, while keeping control of strategy through the board.
Philanthropy and public life
Rales has a parallel career in cinema. Through Indian Paintbrush he has financed and produced several films by director Wes Anderson, including Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel, as well as other independent features. The company is one of the more consistent private backers of art house film in the United States.
He supports charitable causes through family foundations, and the Rales family is known for giving tied to education and to the community where the brothers grew up. Steven Rales gives few interviews and keeps his personal life out of the news, leaving Danaher's public communication to its executives.
Although the brothers built Danaher together, they have developed distinct interests outside it. Mitchell is closely associated with Glenstone, the art museum he founded with his wife in Maryland, while Steven's cultural interests lean towards film and storytelling.