# Sam Walton Samuel Moore Walton (1918–1992) was the founder of [[Walmart]] and Sam's Club, and the patriarch of the [[Walton Family]] — the wealthiest family dynasty in the United States. At the time of his death, Walmart operated 1,735 stores with $50 billion in annual sales; today the company is the world's largest corporation by revenue and largest private employer. ## Background - Born March 29, 1918, in Kingfisher, Oklahoma - Youngest Eagle Scout in Missouri history at the time - B.A. in economics, University of Missouri (1940) - J.C. Penney management trainee in Des Moines - U.S. Army Intelligence Corps captain (1942–1945) - Married [[Helen Walton]] on Valentine's Day 1943 ## Walmart founding Walton opened a Ben Franklin variety store franchise in Newport, Arkansas (1945), then relocated to Bentonville (1950). He co-founded Walmart in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas, built on the insight that small towns could sustain discount stores if supplied by regional distribution warehouses connected by company-owned trucking. Sam's Club followed in 1983. ## Why he matters for the KB Walton's fortune — distributed among four children and their heirs via [[Walton Enterprises LLC]] — became the financial engine for the [[Walton Family Foundation]], which drives charter-school expansion, environmental conservation initiatives, and selective political spending. The family's combined net worth exceeds $300 billion, making the Waltons the single largest private wealth concentration in American history and a permanent force in policy debates over labor, education, and corporate power. Walton was the richest person in America from 1982 to 1988. He died April 5, 1992, of multiple myeloma in Little Rock, Arkansas.