50 WEALTHIEST GREEKS IN AMERICA - The National Herald

14 50 WEALTHIEST GREEKS IN AMERICA
THE NATIONAL HERALD, MARCH 17, 2012
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He just filed a $50 million
IPO for Cancer Genetics, one of
the leading cancer diagnostics
companies in the world. His interest
in biomedical firms and
biotechnology began with his
first big deal and was one of the
first investors in multibillion
dollar Caremark, the first home
health care company in Amer-
John and Mary Pappajohn:
Entrepreneurs and Philanthropists in the Heartland
ica.
Many of Pappajohn’s deals
require him to make decision on
the value of patents, but he said
his network enables him to access
very good research. “For
free,” he said, “but we reciprocate.”
He lets helpful people into
his deals. He said he always
used his own money and that if
he needed more he wouldn’t
borrow, rather he’d bring in
other investors.
That gives him freedom to
make decisions on the spot. “I
take out my ‘checkie’ book” like
a Greek would say,“ and I write
a check. That how I can get
deals and do them fast.”
“We are always involved in
projects,” he says, speaking of
his wife, but art is their joint
passion. They have been listed
among the top 200 art collectors
in the world 14 years in a row.
“I started out with little money,
but we liked art.” Mary Papajohn
has an interior decorating
degree from the University of
Minnesota.
“Neither one of us had art in
our homes, nothing on the
walls, but for some reason the
first month we were married we
went into an art gallery and
bought a $50 painting and we
still own it – a painting of the
Resurrection.”
Mary’s family is from Thebes.
He told TNH, “Our fathers had
the same story: He went back
to his chorio [village] and married
the prettiest girl in town.”
But the pattern worked, he
said. His mother had a good life
and when she was widowed,
she didn’t want to get married
again and she lived to 98. His
in-laws also lived into their 90s,
also raising a wonderful family.
He and Mary continued to
buy art, and then they got involved
with museums. He is on
the Trustee Council of the National
Gallery of Art and a
trustee of Hirshhorn Museum
and Sculpture Garden in Washington
DC. He is on the national
committee of the Whitney Museum
in New York and is a retired
director of the Des Moines
Art Center. Mary is a trustee of
the Walker Museum in Minneapolis
and the head of their
contemporary art gallery at the
Des Moines Art Center.
“Once you get involved in the
arts you get a pretty good handle
on it,” the man renowned
for his analytical ability and intuition
said modestly. One suspects
he has good aesthetic
judgment too, but as he does
with his business associates, he
can lean on Mary’s gifts. They
own 400 pieces.
In an innovative public-private
partnership, two years ago
the Pappajohns donated sculptures
to the Des Moines Art Center
and the city gave him two
blocks downtown for them.
They gave $40 million worth of
sculpture, and have since added
two new pieces, and they will
send more.
BEYOND IOWA
Pappajohn spends 10-12
days per month in New York
Des Moines residents can enjoy artwork from the Pappajohns'
collection against the backdrop of their city.
working on deals. He has averaged
over 45 percent annually
for 40 years and the formula still
works, although he noted that
it reflects the fact that he works
in cutting edge high tech firms,
getting involved very early in
the process when the potential
returns are great. He has a public
offering coming up any day
now to raise $20 million for another
company.
He recently conducted his
third deal with the same CEO.
“He was 27 with the first one
and is now 62. He told me ‘I’ve
got time for one more deal.’” He
has done two deals each with
two other CEOs. “Once I know
how the CEOs operate, it’s easy
for me. I know everything about
them, their strengths and weaknesses
and it helps me manage
them.”
He feels his Hellenic roots
very strongly and has spent a
lot of time studying Greece’s situation.
Regarding the social unrest,
he said sympathetically,
“We would have the same problem
if we cut Social Security 25
percent and reduced Medicare
50 percent.”
Pappajohn pointed out recent
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