The Firestone family was historically very rich, among wealthiest American industrial families in early to mid-20th century, though wealth has diminished over generations due to inheritance division and sale of company. Harvey Samuel Firestone, founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in 1900 in Akron, Ohio, became multimillionaire during automotive boom, with personal fortune estimated at tens of millions in 1920s dollars, equivalent to hundreds of millions today, as main supplier to Ford Model T. At peak, Firestone family fortune was estimated over 1 billion dollars in inflation-adjusted terms, with large estates like Harbel Manor in Akron and Firestone Farm. After Harvey Firestone died in 1938, family continued owning company until 1988 when Bridgestone bought Firestone for 2.6 billion dollars, with Firestone family shareholders receiving proceeds. Today, Firestone family descendants include Martha Firestone Ford, widow of William Clay Ford Jr., who inherited Ford family wealth, and William Clay Ford family is billionaire with net worth over 1 billion. Direct Firestone heirs have wealth in tens to hundreds of millions, but not billionaire status like before, as fortune split among many descendants and sold. Some Firestone family members are involved in philanthropy and real estate. So Firestone family was extremely rich historically, among top industrial families like Ford and Edison friends, with fortune now dispersed but still wealthy with net worth in hundreds of millions collectively, though not as rich as when they owned tire company outright.
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