of Willco Construction, has revamped sites on Pennsylvania Ave., 10th Street N.W., New York Avenue and, most recently, the Vanguard Building at 1111 19th Street. The rest of the Cohen brood remains busy and comfortably well-to-do. Forget sitcoms; call the History Channel. DIANE AND BERTRAM FIRESTONE Johnson & Johnson heiress Diane met real-estate mogul and race-horse enthusiast Bertram Firestone (no relation to the tire dynasty), forming a true marriage of interests and interest (fi nancial). Renowned horse people and Hunt Country residents, the Firestones train thoroughbreds with Olympian golden boy Michael Matz, who trained Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro. In 1980, Diana Firestone’s Genuine Risk became the second fi lly to win that race. Their daughter Alison carries the family colors, having qualifi ed as an alternate on the 2004 Olympic equestrian team. MICHELLE FREEMAN The widow of Carl M. Freeman Companies CEO Joshua Freeman, Michelle Freeman took over chairship of the Carl M. Freeman foundation with aplomb. The tragedy was of a grand scale – they’d been married less than seven years, with small children, when her husband died in a helicopter accident – but Michelle Freeman’s reserves of strength were of similar size. Established by Carl in 1960, the

CMFF has supported philanthropic causes in the greater Washington, D.C. area for over 40 years. A licensed real estate broker, owner/founder of Pilot Properties on the Delaware Shore and manager of the historic, 500-acre Freeman Family Farm in Gaithersburg, Michelle’s capable hands will be sure to spend the $300 million or so left by her late husband with equal reserve and aplomb. CATHERINE HUGHES The Washington Post was likely surprised when Hughes, armed only with the questionably puissant fi rearm of WOL-AM, had the chutzpah to boycott the media giant. Founder of the African-American network Radio One, Hughes and television producer hubby Dewey Hughes put up $100,000 of their own money to buy troubled WOL-AM. Having knocked on the doors of 32 banks for the rest, one was fi nally creaked open by a Puerto-Rican female offi cer who was new on the job, luckily for them. The radio’s slogan, “Information is Power,” didn’t rocket to the top of the charts immediately, and personal troubles (divorce, faltering finances) had the Hughes’ airwaves playing the blues. In 1999, when Radio One was fi rst traded publicly, its estimated value was $924 million, bringing Catherine Hughes’ back to the “top of the pops” fi nancially – to the tune of $300 million or so. Radio One’s recent spate of successes include adding Tom Joyner to the lineup and reaching the level of a fi fty-station-strong, eight

million- a-week audience. There’s no danger of radio silence for this lady anytime soon. DARRELL ISSA The second wealthiest member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Issa was the CEO of Directed Electronics Incorporated, the consumer electronics company known for the Viper alarm system. Indeed, it’s Issa’s own voice that intones, “Warning, you are too close, this vehicle protected by Viper.” A GOP member of congress from California since 2001, who helped engineer the fall of democratic Gov. Gray Davis and then got muscled aside by Arnold Schwarzenegger for the job, Issa is a partner in both DEI LLC and Third I LLC, and is on the board of directors of fi ve companies as well as trustee of Sienna Heights University. JAMES KIMSEY Founding CEO and chairman emeritus of AOL, Kimsey owned more than $78.8 million worth of AOL stock way back in 1997 and has seen his huge investment in that company rise and then fall after the illfated merger with Time-Warner. An Air Force Ranger in Vietnam, where he established an orphanage after his fi rst tour, Kimsey is a practicing humanitarian. He is the chair of the International Commission of Missing Persons, and is very engaged in foreign affairs, meeting with generals about the Iraq war and traveling to Vietnam with President Bill Clinton.

A founding investor in Venture Philanthropy Partners, Kimsey remains active in many charitable causes including Refugees International. In 2000, he bought a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house worth $2.5 million next to his McLean mansion. He is also on the board of many other companies and organizations, including Capital One, Thayer Capital and Georgetown University.. SAMUEL LEHRMAN, ROBERT LEHRMAN AND HEIDI BERRY Samuel Lehrman realized that basic human needs are always marketable; to this end, he and N.M. Cohen addressed feeding hungry Washingtonians with the opening of the highly successful Giant Food Inc, the fi rst supermarket in the District in 1935. The heirs now run the Jacob and Charlotte Lehrman Foundation, which supports and enriches Jewish life in the District and Israel with support for the arts, education, environment and healthcare. THEODORE “TED” LEONSIS If Al Gore invented the Internet, then Ted Leonsis is its indefatigable engineer, constantly tinkering to make it work even better. Steve Case has bailed, but early AOL exec Leonsis serves as vice chairman of the international online phenomenon. Heard of Weblogs, Soundsystem tickets, Advertising. com, Ticketmaster.com or Mapquest? Leonsis has signifi cant ownership