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American businessman (born 1957)
Tilman Joseph Fertitta is an American diplomat, businessman and television personality. He serves as the United States ambassador to Italy and San Marino since May 2025. He is the owner of the entertainment company Landry's and the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Houston Rockets. Fertitta was the chairman of the board of regents of the University of Houston System from 2014 to 2025.
Lürssen117 m · 384 ft · 2026 · Cayman Islands
Feadship (hull 707)76.5 m · 251 ft · 2021 · Cayman Islands
Tilman Joseph Fertitta was born in Galveston, Texas, on June 25, 1957. He is of Sicilian descent. His father, Vic, owned a seafood restaurant on Galveston Island, and after school, Tilman worked peeling shrimp in his father's restaurant. Fertitta attended Texas Tech University and the University of Houston, studying business administration and hospitality management but never graduated. His first entrepreneurial experience involved selling and promoting Shaklee vitamins. In the 1980s, Fertitta bought Landry's in Katy, Texas, from brothers Bill and Floyd Landry after being introduced by his cousin. The Landry brothers were from Lafayette and started the restaurant in the 1970s.
In 1991 Fertitta married Paige Farwell with whom he has four children, a daughter and three sons. Fertitta is now married to Houston attorney Lauren Ware. He is second-cousin to former UFC owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta. An avid sports fan, Fertitta is a vocal supporter of the University of Houston Cougars and can be seen at most Cougar football and men's basketball games as well as court side for Houston Rockets basketball games. In 2016, Fertitta donated $20 million to rebuild the University of Houston's basketball home of Hofheinz Pavilion, since renamed Fertitta Center, along with donations for the construction of TDECU Stadium. Fertitta is a close friend of retired NASA astronaut and Arizona senator Mark Kelly, and his wife, former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords. He owns the 384-foot superyacht Boardwalk--the sixth vessel christened with that name.
In the 1980s, Fertitta founded and ran a construction and development business, and developed his first major project, the Key Largo Hotel in Galveston.
Fertitta partnered with Richard Handler and announced a special-purpose acquisition company called Landcadia, a portmanteau of Fertitta's Landry's and Handler's Leucadia. The company plans to raise as much as $300 million in initial public offering. On May 16, 2018, Fertitta announced that Landcadia would acquire Waitr. On March 1, 2024, it was reported that Fertitta had purchased the River Oaks District, one of Houston's most prominent mixed-use developments, for $450 million.
Fertitta is chairman of the board of the Houston Children's Charity. In 2009, Texas Governor Rick Perry appointed Fertitta to the board of regents of the University of Houston System. In 2008, Fertitta was named chairperson of the Houston Police Department's Police Foundation, supplying gear and equipment for Houston Police Officers. He is on the executive committee for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He is a board member of the Texas Heart Institute, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Greater Houston Partnership. In June 2022, The University of Houston College of Medicine received a $49.9 million pledge from Fertitta and the school was renamed the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine.
Biographical detail compiled from Wikipedia and Wikidata, which are edited openly and may be incomplete or out of date. Fleet data is our own. Source →
