Professional

In 1963, after helping his parents (who were Russian Jewish immigrants) run their store in a suburban Columbus, Ohio shopping center, Les Wexner borrowed $5,000 from his aunt to start The Limited (so named because the store focused on clothing for younger women, unlike his parents' general merchandise store). The Limited opened its first store in the Kingsdale Shopping Center in Upper Arlington. Wexner took Limited Brands public in 1969, listed as LTD on the NYSE. LTD currently employees over 18,000 people and reported $9.7 billion in revenue in 2006.

Over the years he built a large retailing and marketing conglomerate, which includes:

The Limited
Victoria's Secret (the largest LTD brand, with sales over $2.4 billion).
Express
Bath & Body Works
Aura Science
Henri Bendel
C.O. Bigelow
The White Barn Candle Company

Previous brands that have spun off include:

Lane Bryant sold in 2002.
Abercrombie & Fitch
Lerner New York (now New York and Company),
The Limited Too (now Too, Inc.), spun-off in 1999.
Structure, which began as a department in Express stores, then became a seperate line of stores, and finally was combined it with Express (as Express Men) in early 2001. Express, Structure / Express Men, and Bath and Body Works have always been in the same Limited Brands division, and in fact, the Express credit card is accepted at all three stores.

Philanthropy

Mr. Wexner was recently recognized as the wealthiest man in the state of Ohio. He is well known for his philanthropy, often to Jewish projects. He was a major funder of the Wexner Center for the Arts, the name of which is actually intended to honor his father. In 1984 he established the Wexner Foundation. It has both a Graduate Fellowship and an Israel Fellowship Program.

In December 2005, Wexner was appointed to his second term on the Board of Trustees of The Ohio State University.

Personal

He graduated from the Ohio State University with a bachelor's degree in 1959.

In 1993 he married his current wife, Abigail Wexner (formely Abigail S. Koppel). Together, they have four children.

Formerly of Bexley, Ohio, where his mother still lives, Wexner now lives in a $47 million, Georgian inspired Estate, on nearly 1000 acres (4 km²) in New Albany built in 1990. New Albany is an old village outside of Columbus dating from the pioneer era, which he developed with the "New Albany Company" into a growing upper class community. Also nearby is the major shopping village of Easton, which Wexner and partners including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steiner + Associates also developed. As a pun on his name and his former residence in Bexley, the village of New Albany was known (unofficially) for some time as Wexley. Today, this Georgian-themed village inspires comparison to 18th century developments by wealthy aristocrats in England.

As of 1997, Wexner's Limitless is the third largest Yacht in America at 315 feet and 7 inches long. Few images exist, as Wexner will not permit any interior photography, nor does he release official exterior photos to the media. Nearly 140 feet shorter than Larry Ellison's "Rising Sun" yacht (now the largest Yacht), the Limitless held the title of largest yacht for six years.

In 1999, Wexner paid $45.1 million for the Picasso "Nude on a Black Armchair", and donated it to the Wexner Center for the Arts. Wexner is reported to own other Picasso paintings, and is considered have one of the 50 largest art collections in the world.