Steven M. Rales (born March 31, 1951) is an American businessman and film producer. He founded Danaher Corporation in 1984 with his brother Mitchell Rales and is chairman of the board. Rales also founded the film production company Indian Paintbrush in 2006, which works closely with filmmaker Wes Anderson. Rales' net worth was estimated by Forbes in July 2023 to be over $7.3 billion.

Early life and education
Raised in a Jewish family, Rales is one of four sons of Ruth (née Abramson) and Norman Rales. His father was raised in an orphanage, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in New York City, and became a businessman, who sold his building supply company in Washington, D.C. to his employees in what was the first employee stock ownership plan transaction in the US. His father was also a philanthropist, founding the Norman and Ruth Rales Foundation and the Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service.

In 1969, Rales graduated from Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland. In 1973, he graduated from DePauw University, where he was in the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. In 1978, he received a Juris Doctor (JD) degree from American University.

Career
In 1979, he left his father's real estate firm to found Equity Group Holdings with his brother Mitchell Rales. Using junk bonds, they bought a diversified line of businesses: first Mastershield, a vinyl siding manufacturer, then Mohawk Rubber Company, then Diversified Mortgage Group.  They changed the name to Diversified Mortgage Investors, in 1978, and then Danaher in 1984. He has served as Danaher's Chairman of the Board since January 1984. In 1985, they bought Easco Corporation, the then-largest independent aluminum extrusion manufacturer and hand tool manufacturer which produced the Craftsman brand of sockets and wrenches for Sears.

In 1988, they made a hostile takeover bid for Interco, a conglomerate comprising manufacturers as diverse as Converse shoes and Ethan Allen furniture. When the company responded with a poison pill, they sued, and prevailed in court.  They later ended the bid after five months with a profit of $60 million.

In 1992, the AM side of WGMS was sold off to the Rales brothers who converted the music station into the first frequency for WTEM, the first full-time sports talk radio station in the Washington metropolitan area. He and his brother founded Colfax Corporation in 1995, an industrial pumps manufacturer based in Richmond, Virginia. In 2008, Rales engineered the initial public offering of the company. His net worth was estimated by Forbes in July 2023 to be $7.3 billion.

Indian Paintbrush 
Rales founded the film production company Indian Paintbrush in 2006. The company works frequently with filmmaker Wes Anderson, producing films such as Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Isle of Dogs.

Personal life

Rales was married to Christine Plank from 1983 to 2003. They have three children: Alexander, Gregory, and Stephanie. He married Lalage Damerell in 2012. Rales was a major donor in the 2002 dedication of the Peeler Art Center at DePauw.

References

External links
 Danaher profile
 
 

20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century American Jews
1951 births
American billionaires
American company founders
American film production company founders
American film studio executives
American Jews from Maryland
American University alumni
Danaher Corporation people
DePauw University alumni
Golden Globe Award-winning producers
Jewish American film producers
Living people
People from Bethesda, Maryland
Walt Whitman High School (Maryland) alumni