Gambler, pilot and billionaire: Barron Hilton, who made Hilton a $26 billion company, dies
Barron Hilton, head of the Hilton hotel empire, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 91. Having inherited the business from his father, Barron Hilton turned it into a $26 billion company, not least thanks to the gambling business. Empire Hilton. Barron Hilton was the second son of hotel chain founder Conrad Hilton and took over the company, whose business sank during the Great Depression and World War II, in 1966.