This short biography of S Robson Walton, chairman of the world’s largest retail chain, has been written to give you an insight into the USA’s 4th wealthiest citizen. He is also the world’s 18th richest man as of October 2010.

S Robson Walton was born in 1945, and was the first son of Sam Walton, who was the founder of Walmart. As a young man Walton attended the College of Wooster in Ohio. He then went on to the University of Arkansas.

At university he studied business administration and subsequently graduated with a bachelor of science in the subject in 1966, and later in 1969 he received a jurisprudence doctorate from New York’s Colombia University School of Law.

After Rob Walton graduated, he joined the law firm responsible for representing his father’s company, and later joined the Walmart Company. Shortly after his father’s death, he became the chairman of Walmart, and still holds this position today.

Since joining the firm, Rob Walton has served in many positions including Secretary, General Counsel, Senior Vice President, and Vice Chairman. It is believed that Walton had expected to succeed his father a while before, and his father had considered stepping down to allow this.

During Walton’s father’s lifetime, Rob Walton regularly attended annual board meetings and store openings with his father, and was heavily involved in the Walmart expansion during his time as the Vice Chairman.

In 1990 a trust was set up which divided the ownership of Walmart’s investments between Walton and his three siblings to ensure that each of them had equal voting rights. The trust prevents any family stocks being sold without the prior consent and agreement of other stockholders.

He is today among the richest men in the world, and he was valued this year at $19.8 billion. Walton is married and has five children, three of which are the fruits of a previous marriage.

The Walton family currently control 38% of the Walmart Company. Walton’s brother, John, sadly died in a plane crash in 2005 while flying his home built aircraft. His sister, Alice, runs the Walton Family Foundation.

The family regularly donate to education and have contributed $300 million to the University of Arkansas along with donations to other universities. He is also Trustee of his former college, the College of Wooster.

The Walton family are by far the richest family in America, but in spite of this they keep a low profile and you don’t often see them in the press, and you’d be hard pressed to find much information about them and their private lives.

Today, Walmart benefits from sales of over $405 billion annually, and employs over 2.1 million people worldwide. Over the past year, each of the three Walton siblings has raked in $1.2 billion in dividends from the company founded by their late father.