Ben Hill Griffin; Florida Citrus Baron

Florida citrus baron Ben Hill Griffin, 79, listed in Forbes magazine as one of the 400 richest Americans. In October, Forbes put him 261st on the list of wealthy Americans and said he was worth $390 million. Griffin, a member of the Florida Legislature for 12 years, started his citrus empire in 1933, when his father gave him 10 acres of groves as a wedding present. His company, Ben Hill Griffin Inc., owned more than 10,000 acres of citrus groves and 85,000 acres of ranch and timberland in central Florida. The Griffin family sold its packinghouses and a huge juice processing plant to Procter & Gamble Co. in 1981, which introduced its juice under the Citrus Hill brand name. On Thursday in Avon Park, Fla.