Michael Armand Hammer

Michael Armand Hammer was born on September 8, 1955, in Los Angeles, California.[2] He is the son of Glenna Sue (née Ervin) and Julian Armand Hammer,[3] has one sister Casey Hammer, and the only grandson of Armand Hammer.[4] His paternal grandfather's parents were Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants. His paternal grandmother, Russian-born actress Olga Von Root, was the daughter of a czarist general.[5][6] His mother was a native of Texas.

Hammer attended university at the University of San Diego, where he graduated with a degree in Business Administration in 1978. He later graduated from New York University's Stern School of Business in 1982, with a Master of Business Administration degree.[7]

Before becoming involved with his grandfather's company, Occidental Petroleum, Hammer served in different roles at the New York City securities and investment banking firm Kidder, Peabody & Co.,[8] which later was sold to PaineWebber, which ultimately merged with UBS AG in November 2000. He joined Occidental Petroleum in 1982 and served in various capacities in the company's facilities in Texas, Oklahoma, London, and Oman. In 1985, he moved to the corporation's headquarters in Los Angeles where he became a vice president, He shortly thereafter became a member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee, and served in those capacities until his departure from the company in 1991,[2] not long after the death of Armand Hammer.

Since leaving Occidental, Hammer has worked with several companies, including OnVANTAGE, Inc. in 2000,[9] which was later acquired by the company StarCite, Inc., and Avenue Entertainment Group as a member of the Board following an investment in the company by Hammer International in 1999.[8]

As of the late 2000s, Hammer is chairman and CEO of the Armand Hammer Foundation, as well as president and CEO of the Hammer International Foundation. Additionally, Hammer is also the chairman of Hammer Galleries in New York City, and the owner and chairman of 8-31 Holdings, Inc. He is also involved with the television and film producing company Hammer Productions, based in Los Angeles. He founded Grace Christian Academy and the now defunct Christian Communications Association, in the Cayman Islands. He has served with many charitable, professional, and civic organizations, among them the Long-Range Planning Committee of the Western Los Angeles County Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Development Committee of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, the Board of Overseers for Columbia University School of Business, the Starbright Foundation, and the Honorary Advisory Board for Stop Cancer.[2] He is also the Chairman Emeritus of The Hammer Museum of Art in Los Angeles, and is on the Board of Trustees of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

Hammer married Dru Ann Mobley of Tulsa, Oklahoma, on January 12, 1985, at the First Methodist Church in Tulsa.[10] Dru graduated from Oklahoma State University and served on many boards, including the Los Angeles Dream Center where she teaches Bible Study and is involved with programs geared toward discipleship. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Joyce Meyer Ministries.[11] Hammer became a Christian upon marrying his wife,[12] and is a benefactor of several Christian organizations dedicated to evangelism, including Jews for Jesus, Italy for Christ, Don Dennis Ministries, Marty Goetz Ministries, Mike Barber Ministries, and the Douglas L. Mobley Foundation (named after his wife's father, a former real estate developer and banker turned Christian evangelist).[13][14]

Before they divorced after 27 years of marriage, Michael and Dru Hammer had two children:[11]

• Armie Hammer (born 1986), an actor
• Viktor Hammer (born 1988), a businessman/philanthropist.[11]

He formerly resided in a Paul Williams-designed, 1920s Tudor-style manse, that was featured in films and television shows, including the Bells of St. Mary's, Rocky V, and others. It had erroneously been dubbed "Wayne Manor", as it was thought the house had been used in the Batman TV show, but in fact an adjacent residence was the site used for Batman. The historic mansion was destroyed by fire in October 2005 during a renovation by the Hammers.[15][16]

In 2012, his estranged sister, Casey Hammer, wrote a book that claims that she was sexually abused at the hand of both her brother Michael, and her father Julian. The book is called Surviving My Birthright. [17]