VANESSA WILLIAMS – $28 MILLION, NEW YORK

Williams is an American Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning singer, songwriter, and actress. Williams made history on September 17, 1983, when she became the first African American woman to be crowned Miss USA. Williams had a lifelong connection to Buffalo. The most famous was her husband, Jim Scripp, who was from Dubeau. But her roots in western New York are deeper.

Williams and Scrip lived not far from New York City, but they both had family in Buffalo. Weddings, baby parties, billing games, Bonner alumni gatherings, and Mr. Williams’s concerts on the border bring them back at least three times a year. When Williams visit buffalo seaside, to see the crowd and foresee the end result of the ongoing construction, Williams has “that kind of hope and new attitudes, as well as the young people back where he started life” was thrilled.