Rocky Aoki Net Worth

What Was Rocky Aoki's Net Worth?

Rocky Aoki was a Japanese-American amateur wrestler and restaurateur who had a net worth of $40 million at the time of his death in 2008. Best known as the founder of Benihana, Rocky Aoki turned a small midtown Manhattan teppanyaki restaurant into an international chain that helped introduce Japanese cuisine to mainstream America. Known for his charisma, appetite for risk, and love of spectacle, he became nearly as famous for his daredevil stunts, balloon crossings, and backgammon winnings as for his restaurants.

Aoki's empire grew to include more than 100 Benihana locations worldwide, along with the RA Sushi and Haru restaurant brands. His larger-than-life persona also led him into other ventures, from publishing a risqué men's magazine to racing speedboats. His career was not without scandal. In 1998, he faced insider trading charges that damaged his reputation.

He was married three times and had seven children. His son Steve Aoki is one of the most famous and richest DJs in the world. His daughter Devon Aoki is a highly successful model and actress.

By the time of his passing, Rocky Aoki had left behind both a global restaurant brand and a legacy of family feuds, lawsuits, and cultural impact that made him one of the most colorful figures in the modern history of American dining.

Early Life and Wrestling

Rocky Aoki was born Hiroaki Aoki on October 9, 1938, in Tokyo, Japan, the son of Yunosuke and Katsu Aoki. His father was a flamboyant vaudevillian-turned-restaurateur who opened a small café in postwar Tokyo called Benihana, named after a red safflower that survived the firebombing of the city. Rocky inherited both his father's theatrical streak and his mother's discipline. As a teenager, he formed a rock band called Rowdy Sounds but soon discovered his true passion was athletics.

At Keio University, Aoki threw himself into karate, track and field, and especially wrestling. His aggressive style got him expelled after a fight with a fellow student, but he had already established himself as one of Japan's top young wrestlers. He qualified for Japan's 1960 Olympic team in Rome, though he ultimately did not compete. Instead, Aoki accepted an athletic scholarship to the United States, first attending Springfield College in Massachusetts before transferring to CW Post College on Long Island.

In America, Aoki became a minor celebrity in the wrestling world. He won the national AAU flyweight title three years in a row from 1962 to 1964, building a reputation for relentless energy and flair. His toughness in the ring carried over into his new life in New York. He reportedly earned $10,000 in a single summer—money that would help seed his first restaurant.

Benihana

After his wrestling career wound down, Aoki shifted his competitive energy into business. He studied restaurant management at New York City Community College, where he earned an associate degree in 1963. To support himself, he rented an ice cream truck and built a surprisingly lucrative business in Harlem, which not only provided him with income but also gave him his first taste of entrepreneurial success. By the time he graduated, he had saved $10,000—enough to persuade his father to match his investment and help him open his first restaurant in Manhattan.

That year, at the age of 25, Aoki launched Benihana on West 56th Street in Midtown. Drawing inspiration from the Japanese teppanyaki tradition, Aoki added a theatrical twist: knife-wielding chefs preparing steak, shrimp, and chicken directly in front of diners with a mix of juggling, clanging, and corny jokes. At first, business was slow, but a rave review in the New York Herald Tribune changed everything. Soon, the tiny four-table restaurant was packed with curious New Yorkers eager to experience both the cuisine and the show.

The success of that first location marked the beginning of a restaurant empire. In 1968, Aoki opened a second Benihana in Chicago, and over the next decade, he expanded into cities across the United States and beyond. By the early 1980s, the company had gone public under the leadership of president Joel Schwartz. Benihana later acquired the Haru and RA Sushi restaurant brands and established franchises around the globe, with locations in Panama, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Lebanon, Romania, and India.

Aoki also made himself inseparable from the brand through his flamboyant antics. He was a master of publicity stunts, whether posing in a hot tub inside his custom stretch Rolls-Royce, racing cross-country in a stretch Volkswagen Beetle, or cameoing on "Hawaii Five-0." In 1981, he even set a world record when he crossed the Pacific Ocean in a hot-air balloon plastered with the Benihana logo. He also dabbled in backgammon tournaments and speedboat racing, cultivating a larger-than-life persona that kept both himself and Benihana in the headlines.

By blending food, showmanship, and spectacle, Aoki turned Benihana into one of the most recognizable restaurant chains in the world, and himself into an unlikely celebrity chef—one who never cooked a dish but understood better than anyone how to put on a show.

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Other Ventures

Although Benihana remained his central achievement, Aoki constantly sought thrills and side projects that kept his name in the press. In 1973, he founded the softcore men's magazine "Genesis," which stood out with its gimmick of offering two centerfolds for the price of one. Around the same time, he opened Club Genesis, a four-story Manhattan nightclub that became both a personal playground and a symbol of his extravagant lifestyle.

His appetite for adventure also extended to sports and record-setting feats. Aoki became obsessed with offshore powerboat racing, pushing himself to dangerous speeds in high-performance vessels. In 1979, during a Benihana-sponsored race in San Francisco Bay, his boat disintegrated at 80 miles per hour, leaving him with a shattered leg, a torn aorta, and multiple life-threatening injuries. The crash nearly killed him, and he later claimed he contracted Hepatitis C from a blood transfusion during his recovery.

Undeterred, Aoki turned his attention to aviation. In 1981, he helped fund and crew the Double Eagle V, the first hot-air balloon to successfully cross the Pacific Ocean. The balloon, naturally, was emblazoned with the Benihana name, ensuring global publicity for both the restaurant and its daredevil founder.

Beyond these headline-making exploits, Aoki was also a backgammon champion, an occasional television guest star, and a tireless promoter who blurred the lines between entrepreneur, showman, and celebrity. These ventures often cost him dearly, but they cemented his reputation as one of the most flamboyant and unconventional businessmen of his era.

Insider Trading Scandal

By the late 1990s, Aoki's daredevil spirit extended beyond racing and ballooning into financial risk-taking. In June 1998, federal prosecutors charged him with insider trading tied to Spectrum Information Technologies, Inc. According to the indictment, Aoki was tipped by stock promoter Donald Kessler that Spectrum planned to hire former Apple chairman John Sculley as its new CEO. Acting on this information, Aoki purchased 200,000 shares, which quickly surged more than 40% when the news became public. He pocketed over $590,000 in profits.

The case was a major embarrassment for a man who had long positioned himself as a symbol of immigrant success. In 1999, Aoki pleaded guilty. He was fined $500,000, ordered to forfeit his profits, and sentenced to three years of probation. While he avoided prison, the scandal tarnished his reputation and forced him to temporarily step away from leadership roles within the Benihana empire.

Personal Life

Rocky Aoki's personal life was as tumultuous and colorful as his business career. He married three times. His first marriage, to Chizuru Kobayashi in 1964, produced several children, including future superstar DJ Steve Aoki, before ending in divorce in 1981. That same year, he married Pamela Hilburger, a jewelry designer with whom he had a daughter, Devon, a future model and actress. They divorced in 1991. A decade later, in 2002, he married businesswoman Keiko Ono, who remained with him until his death.

Family Feud

Aoki fathered seven children in total. Rocky's relationship with his children was often strained. In 2005, he sued four of them—Grace, Kevin, Echo, and Kyle—accusing them of trying to wrest control of his companies and inheritance. The lawsuit fueled a bitter family feud that lasted until his death, with his third wife, Keiko, often at the center of the conflict.

The bitter conflict between Rocky Aoki's third wife, Keiko, and his children did not end with his death in 2008. Instead, it escalated into a protracted legal battle over his fortune and control of Benihana of Tokyo, the holding company that oversaw the family's overseas franchises.

In the days before Rocky died, several of his children authorized a $3 million distribution from a trust he had established in 1998 after his insider trading conviction. Keiko later accused them of looting the estate "as Rocky lay dying," while the children argued that the trust had always been under their control and that they were entitled to the funds. The dispute went to Manhattan Surrogate's Court, with Keiko seeking to claw back the money.

Keiko ultimately secured control of Rocky's estate, estimated between $35 and $50 million, but the inheritance for his six children came with restrictions. They were named beneficiaries of a $50 million trust, but under its terms could not access their shares until each turned 45. Until then, Keiko acted as both trustee of the fund and CEO of Benihana of Tokyo.

Her leadership quickly became a new source of conflict. The Aoki children accused Keiko of mismanaging company assets and spending money on gimmicks that damaged the brand. Among her ideas were the "Beni Girls," a hip-hop dance duo in chef costumes flown around the world to perform at Benihana restaurants, and "Beni Burgers," a Japanese-style hamburger introduced at the Honolulu location. Both ventures sparked costly lawsuits from Benihana Inc., which had been sold outside the family years earlier. Keiko lost at least one licensing case and was still embroiled in others as late as 2014.

For years after Rocky's death, the Aoki heirs and their stepmother remained locked in court battles over control, spending, and the future of the Benihana name. The saga underscored that Rocky's legacy was not just a restaurant empire but also a deeply fractured family still fighting over the fortune he left behind.

Death

In his later years, Aoki's health declined. He battled diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver, and complications from Hepatitis C, which he said stemmed from a blood transfusion after his 1979 boat crash. By 2008, he was in fragile condition, though he continued to maintain a public presence and participate in backgammon matches and restaurant events when possible.

On July 10, 2008, Rocky Aoki died from pneumonia at the age of 69 in New York City. At the time of his passing, his fortune was estimated at $40 million, much of it tied to Benihana and related ventures. His death marked the end of one of the most flamboyant chapters in American restaurant history. Aoki left behind both a global dining empire and a complicated family legacy—one defined by lawsuits, rivalries, and tabloid-worthy drama, but also by the lasting influence of Benihana, a restaurant concept that changed the way Americans experienced Japanese cuisine.

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