Meet Jeffrey Lurie, the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles and Oscar winner worth $5.3 billion

Lurie's maternal grandfather, Philip Smith, founded the General Cinema Corporation in 1935, bringing 315 movie theaters to neighborhoods around the US, Forbes reported.

Later, the company evolved to also control 60% of Neiman Marcus, in addition to acquiring publishing and insurance company Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (rebranded to Harcourt General).

In 2013, Lurie told Clark Magazine that his grandfather's movie-theater business showed the public that they didn't have to travel to cities to be entertained.

"My grandfather came up with the concept of opening a movie theater in a shopping mall in the suburbs, which was unheard of in those days," he said.

Lurie received his bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology from Clark University and Boston University, respectively, before earning a PhD in social policy at Brandeis University.

He also taught social policy as an adjunct professor at Boston University.

In 1983, Lurie joined General Cinema Corporation. He stayed for two years before starting his own production company, Chestnut Hill Productions.

Lurie told Clark Magazine, "I'd gotten to know a lot of top Hollywood executives through my job at General Cinema and it was a natural move for me. I'd become less interested in the movie theater business and more interested in what kinds of movies you could make."

The company produced films like 1988's "Sweet Hearts Dance" starring Don Johnson and Susan Sarandon, "I Love You to Death," and "Foxfire."

In the early 2000s, Lurie and his then-wife Christina Weiss Lurie (pictured) founded Screen Pass Pictures, a documentary film company.

In 2019, Lurie founded another production company for documentary features called Play/Action Pictures.

Lurie has produced three Oscar-winning documentaries throughout his career, "Inside Job" (2010), "Inocente" (2012), and most recently, "Summer of Soul" (2021). He is credited as an executive producer on each project.

Lurie's love for football began in 1958 when he watched the Baltimore Colts take on the New York Giants in the NFL Championship.

As a New England native, Lurie had originally sought to purchase the Patriots, but lost out to Robert Kraft, who paid $172 million for the team in 1994.

Instead, he purchased the Philadelphia Eagles from Norman Braman in 1994 for $185 million, a decision The Wall Street Journal said was the dumbest investment of the year, he told Forbes.

The Eagles were a flailing franchise then, complete with a rat-infested stadium, organizational issues, and a lack of success in the playoffs — and Lurie and his mother had borrowed a nine-figure sum from the Bank of Boston to make the purchase, using their personal stock and family trust as equity and collateral, respectively.

"It was scary because it was the first really big acquisition where I was risking a tremendous amount to take this opportunity. I couldn't let my dream to own an NFL team confuse the analysis; the analysis had to come first. Eventually, it all came together," Lurie told Clark Magazine.

In his early years as an owner, Lurie helped secure the Eagles a new practice facility, NovaCare Complex, and stadium, Lincoln Financial Field.

And they've won, too.

The Eagles have made the playoffs 19 times and won two of their four Super Bowl appearances, most recently defeating the Kansas City Chiefs at Super Bowl LIX.

The team is now worth $6.6 billion, Forbes reported, more than 35 times what Lurie purchased it for.

In February 2024, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) awarded Lurie an A ranking in ownership, based on how willing players believe he is to invest in the team's facilities.

In 1995, Lurie and the Eagles founded the Eagles Youth Partnership (now known as the Eagles Charitable Foundation) to provide health and education programs for children throughout the Philadelphia region.

"I'd always admired what the Red Sox did with the Jimmy Fund regarding cancer research, so when I bought the Eagles I made it a high priority that what we do in the community should be of equal priority to what we do on the football field," Lurie told Clark Magazine.

One of the foundation's primary goals is to provide vision care to children in the area, an initiative spearheaded by Eagles' 1996 draftee Jermane Mayberry.

Since then, the Eagles Eye Mobile program has provided free vision screenings, eye exams, and prescription glasses to uninsured and under-insured children in the area.

Other philanthropic and community-driven initiatives launched by the team include the Eagles Autism Foundation, the Eagles Social Justice Council, Go Green, and annual playground builds.

The couple have two children, Julian Lurie and Melina Lurie.

Julian, who was born in 1995, works for the Eagles' business and football operations strategy department. After graduating from Harvard University, he joined the NFL rotational program to learn about different aspects of the league.

His dad has floated the possibility he may one day own and run the team.

"I want to expose him to all aspects of both the business side and the operational side — the nuts and bolts yet also the strategy side," Jeffrey Lurie said during the NFL Owners Meeting in 2022, NBC Sports reported.

"He's a real sharp guy," Lurie added. "He's going to have so much more going into it than I ever did, if he chooses to want to someday own and run the team."

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the couple wed in a private ceremony in Charleston, South Carolina, in May 2013.

It's been widely reported that Lurie met Lai while she was working at one of her family's businesses. Her brother, Benny Lai, owns the James Beard Award-winning restaurant Vietnam. The Lai family also owns a second brand, Vietnam Café, and Fu Wah Market.

In 2023, Mansion Global reported that Lurie has properties in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania (the couple's primary residence); Palm Beach, Florida; and Martha's Vineyard.

Lurie told Sports Illustrated, "We gotta remain humble. I just believe in being humble. It's really part of the culture. And the moment you think that you're better than you should be, you lose that edge. You just want everyone to remain humble from the top down.

"There are a lot of smart franchises in this league. I'm grateful that we're able to be world champs in a league with a lot of smart franchises."