Oil dynasty heir J. Paul Getty III died Feb. 5. He was 54.
Getty was a grandson of oil magnate J. Paul Getty, founder of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the eldest son of Paul Getty II and Gail Harris, and father of actor Balthazar Getty.
Getty was born on Nov. 6, 1956. He spent most of his childhood in Rome since his father managed the family’s Italian oil business there. Getty was kidnapped from a piazza in Rome on July 10, 1973 when he was 16. His grandfather was apprehensive about paying the $3 million ransom, believing it to be a hoax. Four months later, when Getty senior received a package containing his grandson’s ear, he reportedly paid $2.2 million of the ransom, while his son paid the rest. Getty was released on Dec. 15, 1973, his grandfather’s 81st birthday.
At 18, Getty married Martine Zacher. His disapproving grandfather subsequently disinherited him.
Getty attended Pepperdine University in Malibu for one semester. At this time, he had a number of surgeries in an attempt to reconstruct his ear. However, Getty’s alcohol and drug addictions led to a life-threatening stroke in 1981. Additionally, his marriage to Zacher ended in the early 1990s.
Recently, Getty had been spending most of his time in Ireland and Italy.