Ken Behring Kenneth Eugene Behring ( born June 13 , 1928 in Freeport , Illinois ) is a real - estate developer , former owner of the Seattle Seahawks football team , and philanthropist . Early years . Behring was born in Freeport , Illinois . His family moved to Monroe , Wisconsin , when he was four . He grew up in poverty ; his father worked in a lumber yard , and his mother cleaned houses . Ken started working a variety of jobs around town starting at age seven : mowing lawns , caddying , transporting milk , selling newspapers , working at a grocery store and at a lumberyard . He became a salesperson at Montgomery Ward at age 16 , and started a side business selling sporting goods in town . Behring attended Monroe High School in Monroe , Wisconsin . A high school football player , he received a partial football scholarship to the University of Wisconsin – Madison , but dropped out of college due to an injury that left him unable to play football , and therefore ineligible for his scholarship . Career . Out of college , Behring , a car buff , worked as a salesperson at a Chevrolet and Chrysler auto dealership . At age 21 , he started a used car business called Behring Motors in Monroe , Wisconsin . He went on to own Car - a - Mat , a chain of car wash es . A savvy businessman , he was earning $ 50 , 000 a year and had $ 1 million in assets by age 27 . Ken Behring moved to Fort Lauderdale , Florida in 1956 and started the Behring Construction Company . He became a land developer , founding " Tamarac Lakes " , a new active - adult ( which later became all - age ) community in 1962 . It was built on an area that was formerly wetlands , pastures , and fields . The new development was incorporated as Tamarac , Florida ( " Car - a - Mat " spelled backwards ) on July 25 , 1963 . Behring ' s company eventually became the largest builder of single - family home s in Florida , and the tenth largest in the United States . In 1972 , Behring moved to the San Francisco Bay Area , where he was involved in developing the country club at Blackhawk , California , and later , the Canyon Lakes Development in San Ramon , California . In 1988 , Behring and partner Ken Hofmann purchased the NFL ' s Seattle Seahawks football team for $ 79 or $ 99 million ( both numbers have been reported ) . They transferred the team ' s operations to Anaheim , California in 1996 , a widely criticized move , although the team continued to play in Seattle . They sold the team to Microsoft co - founder Paul Allen in 1997 , for $ 200 million . Behring has been listed several times on the annual Forbes 400 list of richest Americans , including 1991 , 1995 , and 1997 . In 1997 , his last year on the list , he ranked # 395 , with an estimated net worth of $ 495 million . He ' s since been described in the press as a billionaire . In 2004 , Behring published a memoir called " Road to Purpose : One Man ' s Journey Bringing Hope to Millions and Finding Purpose Along the Way " ( ISBN 0 - 9761912 - 0 - 2 ) . Behring was made a member of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans in 2006 . Family . Behring married his wife Patricia ( Pat ) at age 21 . They have five sons , and as of 2005 , ten grandchildren . Philanthrophy . Behring was involved in founding the Blackhawk Museum ( originally the Blackhawk Automotive Museum ) in 1988 , created , in part , to house his personal collection of vintage car s ; he was criticized for the tax exemption he sought and received for donating his cars to his museum . Behring pledged $ 20 million to the Smithsonian Institution ' s National Museum of Natural History in 1997 , with the intention that it be used for educational purposes . At the time , the money was allocated for refurbishing the museum ' s rotunda , supporting a traveling exhibition , and endowing the museum ' s new Kenneth E . Behring Family Hall of Mammals , which opened in 2003 . There was some controversy around the terms of the donation , linked to Behring ' s endangered species hunting controversy . He pledged another $ 80 million to the Smithsonian ' s National Museum of American History in 2000 . Of the $ 80 million , $ 20 million was allocated for a hall honoring " American legends and legacies , " paying " tribute to deceased individuals who made great contributions to our country and who truly epitomize the ' American spirit " , $ 4 million paid for an exhibition on the American presidency , and another $ 16 million funded an exhibit called " The Price of Freedom : Americans at War , " opened in 2004 . In return , Behring ' s contract required that the museum rename its main facility the " Behring Center . " " MuseumNews " called Behring ' s donation " purportedly the largest cash donation ever to be given to a U . S . museum by a living person , " and Behring was given the Smithsonian ' s James Smithson Award for his contributions . In 2001 , a memorandum by a group of curators and scholars at the Museum of American History expressed concerns about Behring ' s gift , and criticized the museum for hiring Behring ' s personal architect to do a study on modernizing the museum ' s exhibition space ; a Smithsonian official denied accusations of impropriety . According to " The New York Times " , Behring ' s gift was also then criticized in the museum world , as some museum professionals charged that he had been given too much power to " dictate the nature and content of the museum ' s exhibitions . " In 2000 , Behring also donated $ 7 . 5 million to expand the University of California , Berkeley ' s Principal Leadership Institute ; the newly established Kenneth E . Behring Center for Educational Improvement focused on training programs for public school principals , providing scholarships for 50 aspiring principals every year . UC Berkeley awarded him a Chancellor ' s Citation in 2001 . Behring founded the Wheelchair Foundation in Blackhawk , California in 2000 , to provide free wheelchair s for people with physical disabilities in developing nations unable to afford one . He founded the WaterLeaders Foundation , a nonprofit working to support safe drinking water around the world , in 2005 . In a 2010 interview , he reported having given away between $ 200 and $ 300 million , and his interest in issues of global health . In 2009 , Behring made a $ 1 . 9 million donation to National History Day , intended to " improve the teaching and learning of history at middle and high schools throughout the country . " Controversies . Sexual harassment . A 1999 story in " Seattle Weekly " reported that " Behring . . . settled several sex harassment claims in recent years . " The most prominent of these cases was the 1996 allegation by former employee Patricia Parker that she had been sexually harassed over the course of two years , and assaulted at a New Year ' s Day event , while being " required to cover for Behring ' s sexual activities and liaisions in the executive offices with a number of women . " " The New York Times " reported that Parker " accused Behring of making advances , asking her to pick up his prescription sex - enhancing drugs and requiring she keep waivers on hand for his potential sex partners to sign away their rights to demand money of him . " Behring denied the charges , and the case was settled out of court in 1996 . Hunting . Behring started hunting as a young boy , to help provide food for his family . He became an avid big - game hunter as an adult , and a president of hunting organization Safari Club International . He has made multiple safari trips to East Africa , and has shot lions , leopards , rhinoceroses , an elephant , and an endangered bighorn sheep . Behring has been criticized for his trophy hunting practices and animal conservation ethics . In 1997 , Behring shot an endangered Kara Tau argali sheep in Kazakhstan ( only 100 remained in the world at the time ) . Behring claimed he had permits to shoot the sheep and had Russian scientists in his hunting party ; he was issued export permits two days before the enactment of a prior international decision to move Kara Tau argali to the most - endangered status . Per American law , the remains of the endangered animal could not be legally imported into the United States . Behring donated $ 20 million to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History six weeks later , offering his private collection of stuffed hunting trophies to the museum , including four rare bighorn sheep , one of which was the Kara Tau argali sheep . The Smithsonian attempted to import the remains by petitioning the Department of the Interior for an Endangered Species Act waiver , but withdrew its request after questioning and negative publicity from Representative George Miller and groups like the Humane Society of the United States . Behring maintained that he had broken no laws , and had shot the animal legally while assisting Kazakh scientists . The National Museum of Natural History subsequently reevaluated their acquisitions policies in light of the charges . In 1998 , Behring shot and killed an elephant in Mozambique , where the sport killing of elephants was banned in 1990 . His hunting companions , the then past and current presidents of Safari Club International , killed two more elephants . Mozambican wildlife officials believed that the group had come " to survey investment opportunities " in Cabo Delgado province . The group was given a permit by the governor to shoot a lion , a leopard and a buffalo ; a local wildlife official also added a note referring to " problem elephants , " the only exception to the national ban on the killing of elephants . According to Arlito Cuco , head of Mozambique ' s wildlife service , a federal investigation showed that the hunt was illegal because it did not target problem elephants , and that two of the elephant tusks had gone missing . Local investigators also reported that the group used a helicopter during the hunt , which " drove the elephants onto their guns " - - a charge they denied . According to the " New York Times " , Behring ' s spokesperson " sent a reporter a copy of a $ 5 , 000 check , dated six weeks after the hunt and made out to the provincial government with the notation ' elephant permit . ' " The then - director of the game reserve near where the elephants had been killed was skeptical , telling ABC News " PrimeTime " " They came in there and bankrolled an operation to take out some big elephant , and it is wrong . And nobody , nobody can condone what happened . "