Lukas Walton’s grandfather is Walmart founder Sam Walton.
Enter Lukas Walton, the 37-year-old grandson of Walmart and Sam’s Club founder Sam Walton.
While his online presence is pretty limited, he’s the richest person in the state of Illinois, runs an impact investing group called Builders Vision, and is chair of the Walton Family Foundation’s environment program committee.
Here’s what we know about him.
Lukas Walton is the grandson of Sam Walton, founder of Walmart and Sam’s Club.
Sam Walton founded Walmart.
Associated Press
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.
John T. Walton pictured here.
Walton Family Foundation/YouTube
Lukas grew up in National City in San Diego County.
Lukas Walton grew up in California.
Sebastien Burel/Shutterstock
When he was 3 years old, Lukas was diagnosed with a rare kidney cancer that spread to his lungs.
Members of the Walton family.
Walton Family Foundation/YouTube
Within 5 months he had recovered, which his mother, Christy, attributed to a plant-based diet with produce sourced from her own garden.
Lukas Walton’s mother, Christy Walton.
AP
Following John’s death, Christy and Lukas moved to Jackson, Wyoming.
Jackson Hole.
Getty Images
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.
John (right) is pictured here with his mother, Helen, (center) and brother, Rob (left).
April L. Brown/Associated Press
Lukas also inherited his father’s 20% interest in Walton Enterprises, the family holding company that, together with a different family trust, owns around a 45% stake in Walmart.
The family owns just under a 50% stake in Walmart through a holding company and family trust.
Wealth-X; Scott Olson/Getty; Shayanne Gal/Business Insider
Bloomberg lists Lukas as the 59th-richest American as of May 2024, but Forbes gives him a self-made score of one (out of 10), indicating that he inherited his fortune but is not actively increasing it.
Walmart heirs including Lukas regularly rank among America’s richest people.
Edgard Garrido/Reuters
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.
Walton made his own major at Colorado College, pictured here.
Wikimedia Commons
He has traveled extensively and has lived in places like Thailand and Mexico.
Chaloklum Pier in Thailand.
Phurinee Chinakathum/Shutterstock
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.”
Jim Walton, Alice Walton, and Rob Walton cheer at an annual shareholders meeting for Walmart in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
REUTERS/Rick Wilking
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.
Sam and Helen Walton.
Walton Family Foundation/YouTube
Lukas is involved with the Walton Family Foundation, the family’s organization that awards grants toward education, environmental protection, and the family’s home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta.
The Walton Family Foundation has three core focus areas.
Facebook/Walton Family Foundation
Lukas serves as the environment program committee chair and is also a board member of the organization. He is reported to have donated at least $150 million of his own fortune to the foundation.
Lukas is chair of the family foundation’s environment program committee.
Walton Family Foundation/YouTube
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. More recently, the foundation awarded $566.5 million in grants in 2022, according to its website.
Lukas is involved in work with the Walton Family Foundation.
Walton Family Foundation/YouTube
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.”
The family foundation centers its environmental efforts on “protecting rivers, oceans and the communities they support.”
Walton Family Foundation/YouTube
In 2021, Lukas founded and publicly launched Builders Vision, an impact investing group working to tackle social and environmental problems. It’s focused on “sustainable food and agriculture, healthy oceans, renewable energy and thriving communities,” according to its website.
Lukas is the founder and CEO of Builders Vision.
Walton Family Foundation/YouTube
Lukas Walton is the richest person in Illinois, according to Forbes’ 2024 list of the wealthiest people in every state. In July 2022, he and his wife, Samantha, sold their home in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood for $1.7 million, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Lukas and his wife sold their home Chicago in 2022.
Songquan Deng/Shutterstock
Lukas keeps a low public profile. He has no known social media profiles and other personal details are largely absent online.
Lukas Walton discussing the Walton Family Foundation’s work.
Walton Family Foundation/YouTube
