Donald Sterling is an American businessman and former owner of the NBA team the Los Angeles Clippers who was born on April 26, 1934. Sterling was born as Donald Tokowitz on April 26, 1934, in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles where he was class president. Sterling graduated from high school in 1952 and went on to attend California State University. He then went on to attend Southwestern University School of Law where he graduated in 1960. Sterling began his career as a personal injury attorney and started his own practice. He also became a real estate mogul and purchased a 26-unit apartment building in Beverly Hills. In the 1960s, Sterling also purchased a pair of large apartment buildings in Westwood in Los Angeles called the Lesser Towers.

Sterling's empire grew to 162 properties in Los Angeles by 2014. He purchased the Los Angeles Clippers, a professional National Basketball Association team in 1981. In 2014, he was forced to sell the league after a private recording of him making racist comments was revealed. Sterling was also fined $2.5 million by the NBA for the comments. The Sterling Family Trust sold the Clippers for $2 billion to Steve Ballmer.