Gary Tharaldson

Tharaldson grew up in rural Dazey, North Dakota, and attended Valley City State University, where he earned degrees in business administration and physical education; he then did graduate work at North Dakota State University in Fargo.⁠[1][2]

He taught school in Leonard, North Dakota, before leaving teaching.⁠[2][1]

In 1969 Tharaldson entered the insurance business, quickly becoming a leading general agent for several insurers and building a sales force of more than 100 agents. He remained in insurance until 1989, after which his only insurance activity was servicing existing policyholders.⁠[2]

In 1982 Tharaldson entered the motel business by buying the Super 8 properties in Valley City and Devils Lake, North Dakota. Later that year Tharaldson Enterprises began building motel properties and selling or operating them.⁠[2][3]

In the following two decades he built about 20 hotels a year.⁠[1]

In 1999 Tharaldson and his family sold the holding company of Tharaldson Motels to its employees, making it one of the largest employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) companies in the United States. The transaction covered 219 hotels, for which the employees later paid $600 million.⁠[2][1]

On March 31, 2006, the Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds, Goldman SachsGoldman SachsGoldman Sachs is an American financial services group headquartered in New York whose businesses include investment banking, securities trading, asset management, and wealth management. It traces its origins to the commercial paper business Marcus Goldman founded in 1869; it listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1999 under the ticker GS and became a bank holding company in 2008. David Solomon serves as chairman and chief executive officer.Open the full entry’s primary real estate investment vehicle, closed the $1.2 billion acquisition of 130 hotels from the Tharaldson family, in a transaction spearheaded by Tharaldson Motels founder Gary Tharaldson.⁠[4]

After the sale, Tharaldson Property Management, an affiliate of Tharaldson Motels, continued to manage the 130 hotels along with its own roughly 200 limited-service hotels. Based in Fargo, the company had managed limited-service hotels since 1982 and at the time employed more than 7,000 people, managing 350 hotels with 25,984 rooms in 36 states.⁠[4]

Tharaldson reinvested the proceeds in land, commercial and residential developments.⁠[3]

In 2008 Tharaldson launched an ethanol facility near Fargo that produces more than 175 million gallons a year.⁠[3]

In 2009 he took a stake in a 16,000-acre farming entity in Arizona that is shifting to solar energy. Ethanol makes up about 20% of his holdings; the rest is mainly hotels and land development.⁠[1]

As of October 23, 2026, ForbesForbesForbes is an American business media brand that began with Forbes magazine, founded by B.C. Forbes in 1917. It is known for rankings such as the Forbes 400, the World’s Billionaires list and 30 Under 30, and operates Forbes.com, ForbesLive events and licensed editions in 81 countries. Since 2014 a majority stake has been held by the Hong Kong investment group Integrated Whale Media; a 2021 plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange through a special purpose acquisition company was terminated in 2022. It is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.Open the full entry estimated Tharaldson’s net worth at $1.8 billion, with hotels as the source of his self-made wealth. Forbes also notes that he has built, owned and operated more than 400 hotels, opening about one new hotel a month on average over 40 years.⁠[3]