Randal J. Kirk - Personal Life

Personal Life

Kirk's father was an Air Force Master Sergeant, and the family moved several times during his youth. He reports he taught himself to read at age three. After graduation from Dublin High School in Virginia, he worked selling cars and motorcycles, and enrolled part-time at Radford University for some business courses. He later earned a B.A. in Economics at Radford (1976), and a J.D. at the University of Virginia (1979). He was admitted to the bar in 1980, and began his eleven-year practice of law in Bland County, Virginia — where he was the only attorney.

Kirk owns a 6,900-acre (28 km2) farm in the Belspring area of Pulaski County, Virginia. He supports higher education and politics. In 1999, he gave $1 million to Radford University. In addition to this donation, Kirk has served on the Board of Directors of the Radford University Foundation, Inc., as well as on the school's Board of Visitors. He was elected Rector of the Board in 2006. Kirk resigned in June 2009 and within a month in July 2009, was appointed to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, from which he resigned in October 2012, citing his residence change to Florida.

Kirk calls himself a political independent, and has generously supported both Republicans and Democrats. Data published for the end of March 2009 show he donated over $200,000 to Terry McAuliffe's 2009 Virginia gubernatorial election. Since 1999 he donated $1.8 million to candidates for state office in Virginia, principally to Democrats. Since 1994 he has donated $183,250 in federal elections.

The June 2006 issue of Virginia Business magazine listed him as the 12th-richest Virginian, with a net worth of $700 million. His mid-2007 net worth was estimated at $1.2 billion, making him the 6th richest Virginian. In mid-2008, his net worth was estimated at $1.6 billion. In 2013, Forbes listed him as the 613th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $2.4 billion.