I would probably live in one of those nondescript buildings on the outskirts of Prague, and I'd probably be a semi-useless citizen somewhere. His wife is wonderful, he says, so are his children. That, and he's one of the most powerful businessmen in North America. U.S.-based SDL Inc. He recently debuted on Forbes magazine's list of the World's 500 Top Paid CEOs, the first man of Czechoslovak origin to be recognized on the annual ranking. This landed him at No. 52 on Forbes' list, among entrepreneurial legends such as Microsoft guru Bill Gates and Charles Schwab.
Life is good indeed.
Humble beginnings Straus was born in 1946, to Jewish parents who survived the Holocaust. He grew up in Velke Kapusany, a small Slovak town on the border of what is now Ukraine. His father was a pharmacist, and Straus remembers planting tomatoes, cabbage, green peppers, corn and potatoes with his sister in their garden, and picking apples and cherries. It was a typical village. I had a very nice childhood there.