Kirk Kerkorian | 1917 - 2015

Joan Dangerfield, left, and Kirk Kerkorian attend a dinner reception for the Chinese delegation’s official U.S. visit hosted by Joan Dangerfield at her residence on February 24, 2012, in Los Angeles.

(Chelsea Lauren / Getty Images for Joan Dangerfiel)

June 16, 2015 8:05 AM PT

Kirk Kerkorian, an eighth-grade dropout who traded his way to a $15-billion fortune and for a time became the richest person in Los Angeles, died Monday at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 98.

Kirk Kerkorian, majority shareholder of MGM Mirage, speaks to the media in 2005 at the Nevada Gaming Control Board hearing in Las Vegas.

(JOE CAVARETTA / AP)

Kirk Kerkorian, left, and Sumner Redstone chat at “An Evening with Larry King and Friends” to benefit The Larry King Cardiac Foundation at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills on Jan. 24, 2003.

(Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, right, is escorted as he leaves the Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008, after testifying in the Anthony Pellicano trial. (Nick Ut / AP)

Then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), left, and Kirk Kerkorian attend the Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. boxing match on Saturday, May 5, 2007, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

(Kevork Djansezian / AP)

Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, left, arrives at the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building to testify in his lawsuit against Daimler Chrysler AG December 2, 2003 in Wilmington, Del.

(William Thomas Cain / Getty Images)