G eorge Marcus is a Greek-American self-made billionaire who has built a vast fortune in the real estate and investment industries. He is the co-founder and chairman of Marcus & Millichap, one of the largest and most successful commercial real estate brokerage firms in the United States. Born in Greece, he immigrated to the U.S. as a child and later founded his brokerage firm in 1971 with a focus on a unique model of exclusively listing properties.

In addition to his brokerage empire, Marcus is also the co-founder and chairman of Essex Property Trust, a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) with a massive portfolio of apartment buildings on the West Coast. He has built two separate, highly successful, publicly traded companies in two different parts of the real estate industry. He is also a prominent philanthropist and a major donor to the Democratic Party. He and his wife are the owners of a vineyard in California.