Larry Ellison grew up in a Reform Jewish household in Chicago after being adopted as an infant by his aunt and uncle. Though his upbringing was steeped in Jewish culture and synagogue attendance, Ellison later described himself as a religious skeptic. He once said that while he “thinks [he] is religious in one sense,” the dogmas of Judaism didn’t resonate with him, calling them “interesting stories… mythology” rather than literal truths.
Quick Profile: Larry Ellison
| Full Name | Lawrence Joseph Ellison |
| Born | August 17, 1944 (New York City) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign; University of Chicago (both dropped out) |
| Occupation | Businessman, co-founder of Oracle Corporation |
| Known for | Founding Oracle and serving as its CEO (1977–2014) |
| Net worth (2025) | US$315 billion |
| Religion | Raised Jewish (Reform) but non-religious |
What Religion is Larry Ellison?
Ellison was born to a Jewish mother and given a Reform Jewish upbringing by his adoptive parents. However, he has repeatedly stated that he is not religious and rejects the dogmas of Judaism (or any faith). He famously refused to have a bar mitzvah at age 13. In his own words, “the particular dogmas of Judaism are not dogmas I subscribe to” and he views religious stories as “interesting mythology” for which he “sees no evidence”.
The Jewish Chronicle notes that “Ellison has never been religious”. In short, Ellison identifies with his Jewish heritage culturally, but personally he considers himself a religious skeptic or secular person who does not practice any faith.
Early Life
Larry Ellison was born Lawrence Joseph Ellison on August 17, 1944 in New York City. His biological mother, Florence Spellman, was a 19-year-old Jewish woman, and his biological father was an Italian-American Army Air Corps pilot. After Ellison fell gravely ill as an infant, his mother gave him up for adoption to her aunt and uncle, Lillian and Louis Ellison. He did not meet his birth mother again until he was 48 years old. The Ellison family moved to Chicago, to the South Shore neighborhood. Larry’s adoptive mother was warm and supportive, while his adoptive father who had chosen the surname “Ellison” in honor of Ellis Island was known to be strict and distant.
Ellison attended South Shore High School in Chicago. He excelled academically and was admitted to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign as a pre-med student. At Illinois he was even named “Science Student of the Year”, but he did not complete his degree. In 1966, after the death of his adoptive mother, Ellison withdrew before his finals. He briefly attended the University of Chicago for one term (studying physics and mathematics), then moved to Berkeley, California. In California he began his career as a computer programmer for various tech companies, setting the stage for the launch of Oracle.
Career and Oracle
In 1977 Ellison and two partners founded a software firm called Software Development Laboratories, later renamed Oracle. The company’s first project was a database system for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (codenamed “Oracle”), based on Edgar Codd’s relational database principles. This product became the foundation of Oracle Corporation. Under Ellison’s leadership, Oracle grew rapidly through the 1980s and 1990s, releasing the Oracle Database (version 2) in 1979 and rebranding as Oracle Systems Corporation in 1983. Over several decades Oracle became a dominant enterprise software vendor under Ellison’s direction.
Ellison served as Oracle’s Chief Executive Officer for 37 years (from 1977 until 2014). In 2014 he stepped aside as CEO and took the roles of executive chairman and chief technology officer, though he has remained deeply involved in Oracle’s strategy. Throughout his career Ellison’s aggressive business tactics (such as large acquisitions and intensive sales strategies) helped Oracle expand into areas like cloud services and hardware, making it one of the largest software companies in the world. He has also pursued ventures outside Oracle, for example, joining the board of Tesla from 2018–2022 and investing in technology startups but Oracle remains his primary enterprise.
Philanthropy
Ellison has signed the Giving Pledge (promising to give away at least 95% of his wealth) and is a major philanthropist in science and technology fields. Much of his giving has focused on medical research and global challenges. For example, Ellison founded the Ellison Medical Foundation, which in its prime invested roughly $1 billion into aging and disease prevention research. In 2016 he donated $200 million to the University of Southern California to create the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine, a new interdisciplinary cancer research center. That institute brings together experts in engineering, biology, and medicine to develop innovative cancer treatments. More recently, Ellison and partners established the Ellison Institute of Technology (based at the University of Oxford) to tackle big problems in healthcare, climate, food security and artificial intelligence, with a dedicated campus planned to open by 2027.
Ellison has also been a notable donor to Israeli causes, though out of cultural solidarity rather than religious motivation. In 2017 he gave $16.6 million to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (the largest gift in that organization’s history). He has explicitly said he supports Israel for its innovation and spirit, not on the basis of religious belief. Overall, Ellison’s philanthropy is characterized as strategic and large-scale; he prefers funding ambitious research institutes and technologies over small donations, reflecting his self-professed goal of addressing “long-term, impact-driven” challenges.
Personal Life
Larry Ellison has had a high-profile personal life. He has been married six times. His first two marriages (to Adda Quinn and then to Nancy Jenkins) each lasted a few years. His third marriage was to Barbara Boothe (1983–1986), with whom he had two children: David Ellison and Megan Ellison. Both David and Megan Ellison became film producers (founding Skydance Media and Annapurna Pictures respectively). Ellison’s fourth and fifth marriages (to novelist Melanie Craft and then to Nikita Kahn) also ended in divorce. In 2023 he married his sixth wife, Jolin (Keren) Zhu, a Chinese-born businesswoman.
Ellison is known for an indulgent but disciplined lifestyle. He does not drink alcohol or use recreational drugs, stating that he “can’t stand anything that clouds my mind”. He has a passion for luxury cars and art, his garage includes exotic models like an Audi R8 and the rare McLaren F1, and he famously gave away an Acura NSX each year during its production run. He is also a noted art collector, owning at least four paintings by Vincent van Gogh (including Bridge across the Seine at Asnières). A licensed pilot, Ellison owns several private aircraft and even some decommissioned military jets, reflecting his love of speed and technology.
Ellison’s real estate holdings are similarly extravagant. His primary home is a 110-acre estate in Woodside, California, designed in a feudal Japanese style with a 2.3-acre artificial lake. He has owned numerous other properties, multiple oceanfront mansions in Malibu (over $180 million worth), a historic mansion in Newport, Rhode Island (the Astor estate), a private golf-and-country estate in Rancho Mirage (the Porcupine Creek property), and, in 2022, a 22-acre oceanfront parcel in Manalapan, Florida, purchased for $173 million (the most expensive home sale in Florida history). In December 2020 Ellison left his California residences to live on Lānaʻi, a Hawaiian island of which he owns 98%. (He purchased nearly the entire island in 2012 and now operates its resorts and utilities.) Ellison’s island lifestyle has been controversial at times, as local residents have chafed under some of his policies, but the move reflects his preference for privacy and control over his living environment.
Throughout his life, Ellison’s public image has been as a competitive, hard-charging entrepreneur with a flair for the dramatic (from high-stakes yacht racing to public challenges with competitors). He maintains a reputation as a visionary technologist, a committed philanthropist in science and medicine, and a fiercely private but colorful personality. Sources describe him as warm in personal interactions yet intensely driven in business, always pushing the boundaries of innovation while remaining unabashed about his wealth and achievements. Today, as Oracle’s Executive Chairman and a top global billionaire, Larry Ellison is widely recognized both for his business empire and for living life on his own terms.
