Thomas Frist Jr., a physician and co-founder of HCA Healthcare, is ranked No. 48 on the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list with a net worth of $41.1 billion. He is the wealthiest person in Tennessee, according to Wikipedia.
Thomas Fearn Frist Jr. was born on August 12, 1938, to Thomas F. Frist Sr., a prominent internal medicine specialist in Nashville, and Dorothy Cate. His brother is the physician and former US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
Net Worth and Rank
- Forbes 2026 list: No. 48, with $41.1 billion, listed as “Thomas Frist Jr & family”
- Source of wealth: his stake in HCA Healthcare
Education and Early Career
Frist grew up in Belle Meade, near Nashville, and attended Montgomery Bell Academy, where he played quarterback for the 1956 state champion football team. He graduated from Vanderbilt University and received an MD from Washington University School of Medicine. He served as a flight surgeon in the US Air Force.
Building HCA
- 1968: he co-founded the Hospital Corporation of America with his father and Jack C. Massey
- 1977 and 1987: he became president of HCA in 1977, and chairman, president and CEO in 1987
- 1997–2001: he returned as chairman and CEO after Rick Scott resigned, and was CEO until January 2001 and chairman until January 2002
- 2006: he accepted $21 billion in private-equity investment from Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Merrill Lynch to take HCA private, a deal that valued the company at $33 billion and that Wikipedia describes as the biggest leveraged buyout of all time
- 2009: he stepped down from the board and his son Billy Frist joined it
Other Roles
He was on IBM’s board of directors from 1984 to 1995, chaired the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce in 1999–2000 and is a member of The Business Council.
Why It Matters
HCA is one of the largest hospital operators in the United States, and the Frist family’s stake in it is the source of its fortune.
Net worth figures change daily with share prices. Rankings here follow the Forbes 2026 World’s Billionaires list, with wealth measured on March 1, 2026.
Image: An HCA Houston Healthcare hospital in Tomball, Texas (file photo, 2025; Thomas Frist Jr. is not pictured). Photo: ajay_suresh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
