Richard Riordan

Riordan was born on May 1, 1930, in Flushing, Queens, to an Irish-American family, the son of Geraldine (Doyle) and William O. Riordan. He was the youngest of their nine children. After growing up in New Rochelle, New York, he first enrolled at Santa Clara University on a football scholarship, but transferred to Princeton University, where he graduated in 1952 with an A.B. in philosophy. His senior thesis was titled "A Study of the Thomistic Faculty Psychology." He then served in the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant during the Korean War. After leaving the military, he earned a J.D. from The University of Michigan Law School in 1956.

That year, he moved to Los Angeles, joining the downtown law firm of O'Melveny & Myers. In 1959, he left to become a partner of Nossaman LLP. In 1975, he was a founding partner of the law firm Riordan & McKinzie, which merged with Bingham McCutchen in 2003.

Riordan began investing in the 1950s with an $80,000 inheritance from his father, which he eventually grew into a multimillion dollar fortune. In 1982, he was a founder of the private equity firm Riordan, Lewis & Haden. As a philanthropist, he founded the Riordan Foundation, a charity for expanding childhood literacy.

The Richard J. Riordan Central Library in Los Angeles is named after him. Riordan owned the Original Pantry Cafe, which operated in Los Angeles from 1924 to 2025, and Gladstones Malibu, which has been open since 1972.

Riordan was married four times and had five children, two of whom predeceased him, which are Billy, who drowned in a scuba diving mishap on August 17, 1978 at age 21 while trying to get shellfish to cook for his friends, and Carol, who died of cardiac arrest resulting from complications of anorexia on February 7, 1982 at age 18. He died at his home in Brentwood on April 19, 2023 at age 92.

Riordan continued to be involved in city politics after his mayoralty. In the 2001 Los Angeles mayoral election, Riordan endorsed his friend and adviser Steve Soboroff in the primary and Antonio Villaraigosa in the general election. In 2005, he backed former State Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg in the primary and Antonio Villaraigosa in the general election. In both races, he chose not to endorse James Hahn.

Riordan played a role in City Council elections, supporting Bill Rosendahl, who won election in the Eleventh District in 2005; Monica Rodriguez, who lost to Seventh District Councilman Richard Alarcon in 2007; and Adeena Bleich, who lost to Paul Koretz and David Vahedi, who advanced to the runoff election. In 2013, Riordan endorsed Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel for mayor. She ultimately was defeated by then-Council member Eric Garcetti.