Jennings Bryan Osborne, Jr. was born on 21 September 1943, in Fort Smith, Arkansas USA, and was an entrepreneur, best known to have founded the Arkansas Research Medical Testing Center which was reportedly credited for testing a lot of drugs, including Viagra. He was also known for creating The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. All of his efforts helped put his net worth to where it is was, prior to his passing in 2011.
How rich was Jennings Osborne? As of mid-2017, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $50 million, earned through success in his business endeavors. The display of Christmas lights and decorations became a part of Disney’s Hollywood Studios,one of the most popular attractions during the holiday season.
Jennings Osborne Net Worth $50 million
Jennings started his career by founding the Arkansas Research Medical Testing Center. It proved successful and helped his net worth increase significantly. Eventually, he purchased a large estate in the middle of his town in 1976, and around 10 years later, he was asked by his daughter to decorate their home with lights, which prompted Osborne to compile and string together 1000 lights around their home. The decorations would grow bigger and bigger each year, and eventually he would even purchase two poperties beside them, to expand their lights display. In 1993, it was reported that their home had a display of three million lights.
Some of his most popular light displays include an illuminated globe, two rotating carousels of lights, a 70 foot high Christmas tree of lights, and a canopy of around 30,000 red lights. It first became an attraction in Arkansas, and soon attracted attention from around the world. However, due to the number of people visiting the place, it caused severe traffic issues and many complaints. Neighbors filed a lawsuit due to traffic congestion and the fear that the display was blocking emergency vehicles from passing by. Eventually, the county court ruled that the display was limited to 15 days and was lit from 7 to 1030 pm. Then the Supreme Court shut down the display altogether. They continued to have a light display but it was on a smaller scale.
The court case of the lights caught the attention of many, and a lot of cities wanted to host the display. Eventually, he agreed to an offer by Disney to set up the lights show on Disney’s Residential Street – the display was called “The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights” and became a huge success. His net worth continued to build thanks to this venture. The project reportedly took 20,000 man hours to install each holiday season, with the set up starting in September, and requiring 800,000 watts of electricity. In 2004, the display moved to the New York Street Set which now included an artificial snow effect. In the next few years, the lights were choreographed to a musical store. In 2011, the project then had a major overhaul and now consisted of LED lights. The choreography was also given an overhaul. The 2015 holiday season marked the final season of the “Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights”.
For his personal life, it is known that Jennings was married to Mitzi and they have a daughter. Jennings passed away from complications following heart surgery in 2011.
