Richard Rainwater dies at 71, helped George W. Bush buy a baseball team

Billionaire investor Richard Rainwater, the son of a North Texas grocer who partnered with George W. Bush to buy a baseball team and led the acquisition of a major stake in the Walt Disney Co., has died at the age of 71.

Rainwater, who amassed a fortune as an investment manager before becoming a billionaire investor and philanthropist, died Sunday after a long battle with a rare neurological disease, according to his charitable foundation.

Among Rainwater’s career achievements was conducting billionaire investor Sid Bass’ acquisition of a major stake in the Walt Disney Co. and partnering with future President George W. Bush in the 1989 purchase of the Texas Rangers baseball team.

Forbes magazine listed Rainwater as the world’s 663rd wealthiest person and ranked him 236th in the United States, with an estimated net worth of $3 billion in 2015.

Born June 1, 1943, Rainwater graduated from Stanford Business School and was working at Goldman Sachs when he was hired by the Bass family, heirs to Texas oil wildcatter Sid Richardson’s fortune, according to the Rainwater Charitable Foundation. He was 26 at the time.

Richardson and Sid Bass invested $478 million in a struggling Walt Disney Co. in 1984 and helped to install then-Paramount Pictures President Michael Eisner as Disney’s chief executive officer.

In 1986, when he turned 42, Rainwater went into business for himself and later helped to engineer Bush’s purchase of the Rangers, the foundation of Bush’s personal fortune.

“I was so saddened to learn that my friend Richard Rainwater died this weekend. Richard had a brilliant mind and a generous heart. He was a lot of fun, inspiring to be around, and generous and courageous to the very end,” Bush said in a statement issued by his office Sunday.

Rainwater also mentored other investors such as David Bonderman, another Bass family employee who went on to become founding partner of TPG Capital. The firm has helped to recapitalize such businesses as Neiman Marcus department stores, Continental Airlines and Burger King.

A statement issued by the Rainwater Charitable Foundation said Rainwater had been battling progressive supranuclear palsy since 2009 and had pumped millions of dollars into a campaign aimed at finding a cure.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke describes progressive supranuclear palsy as a brain disorder that causes serious and progressive problems with control of gait and balance, along with complex eye movement and thinking problems.

Rainwater hadn’t made any public appearances since 2010, according to the charitable foundation’s statement.

“There is an extraordinary untold story about his heroism and bravery as the symptoms worsened,” son Matthew Rainwater said in the statement.