Backstory on the Chandler woman: Forbes

Some 200 heirs with at least 20 different surnames are benefiting from clerk Harry Chandler's fortuitous marriage more than a century ago. In 1894, he wed the daughter of Los Angeles Times owner Harrison Gray Otis and proceeded to build a media empire. He also developed real estate and erected the famous Hollywood sign (which originally read "Hollywoodland") for one of his projects. In 1944, he handed the reins of the publishing empire to son Norman, who in turn passed it on to his son Otis in 1960. In 2000, Tribune Co. acquired L.A. Times parent Times Mirror Co., which by then also owned six other daily newspapers. The Chandlers, who controlled 24% of Times Mirror and majority voting rights, ended up with about 20% of Tribune Co.'s stock. Jeffrey Chandler and cousin Roger Goodan, along with family trust chairman Walter Williamson, were the last family members on the Tribune board. They backed selling the company to real estate investor Sam Zell, who took it private via a leveraged buyout in 2007, ending more than 100 years of the Chandler clan's involvement with the business. Today, the family's fortune is held in multiple trusts worth an estimated $4.2 billion.