Photo: US Department of Commerce / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Ross is a textbook example of the distressed-asset investor: someone who made a fortune buying broken steel and textile companies that everyone else had written off. The 'King of Bankruptcy' nickname is well earned, and there's something genuinely instructive about how he turned International Steel Group into a profit machine before selling it. His tenure as Commerce Secretary was far more polarizing, marked by disputes over his net-worth disclosures and the census citizenship question. I find him compelling as a case study in how Wall Street restructuring expertise translates, or doesn't, to public office. A shrewd dealmaker with a complicated public record.
Overview
Wilbur L. Ross Jr. (born November 28, 1937) is an American investor, financier, and politician. Known as the 'King of Bankruptcy' for his work restructuring distressed companies in industries such as steel and textiles, he served as the 39th United States Secretary of Commerce from 2017 to 2021 in the Trump administration.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Wilbur L. Ross Jr.
- Name (Japanese)
- ウィルバー・ロス
- Reading
- うぃるばー・ろす
- Born
- November 28, 1937 (age 88)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Sagittarius / Ox
- Origin
- Weehawken, New Jersey, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- Financier / Investor / Politician / Banker / Art collector
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Xavier High School
- University
- Yale University
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Financier — see all → · Investor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.