Joan Irvine Smith fought the foundation that controlled her grandfather's Irvine Ranch for 33 years and left with $256 million

James Irvine II owned the Irvine Company and about 110,000 acres in what became Orange County^†. His intended successor, his son James Jr., died in 1935. In 1937 he created the James Irvine Foundation to hold controlling stock in the company^†. When he died in 1947 the foundation controlled the company and his granddaughter Joan inherited a minority share. In 1957, aged 24, she joined the company board. Other members called her "spoiled"; she was said to carry a hidden tape recorder to meetings. She forced the board to donate 1,000 acres for the University of California, Irvine campus. She lobbied Congress to stop tax-exempt foundations running private companies, which helped dislodge the foundation. After the 1969 Act the foundation had to sell. In 1977 a group led by A. Alfred Taubman that included Donald Bren bought the company^†. In the early 1980s she fought Bren in court over his plan to merge the company with his holding company, saying it shortchanged minority shareholders, and lost. In 1990 she and her mother sold out for $256 million. She died in December 2019 aged 86. Bren owns the Irvine Company outright^†.