Kiran C. Patel Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Kiran Patel

• Kiran Patel’s father, Chhotubhai Patel, hailed from Mota Fofaliya village in Gujarat, India. ^[7]Florida Trend

• In the late 1940s, Chhotubhai Patel, his wife, Savitaben, and his daughter moved to Kabwe in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), where their three sons were born.

• Patel grew up in the era of racism in Zambia. He pursued his primary education under the British educational system, where he had to travel 80km to go to school as there was none in his town for non-white students.

• Patel has been money-minded since childhood. As a kid, he used to get one shilling a day as pocket money. While his younger brother spent it on chocolates and sodas, Patel used to put it in a piggy bank. Years later, he used these savings to buy the ship fare from Zambia to India for himself, his parents, and his two siblings. This was his family’s first trip home in 12 years.

• Kiran Patel met Pallavi Patel while attending medical school in Gujarat, India.

• As Kiran and Pallavi belonged to different Hindu castes, their parents were against their marriage at the beginning. ^[8]Tampa Bay Times While Pallavi came from a family of merchants, Kiran belonged to a family of farmers. ^[9]Florida Trend

• In 1973, Kiran and Pallavi moved to Zambia, Africa after graduating.

• In 1976, he moved to the United States on Thanksgiving Day.

• In 1982, he moved to Tampa, Florida and began his practice in cardiology.

• At that time, Patel’s brother Pradip owned a hotel in Tampa.

• Soon, Kiran Patel became a successful cardiologist in the Tampa Bay area.

• In 1985, together with his wife, he developed a physician practice management company, expanding into practices like Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Cardiology.

• Kiran partnered with many point-of-service locations to form a multi-speciality network that helped patients use medical services easily.

• In 1992, Kiran Patel became Chairman of the Board of Wellcare HMO, an American health insurance company. At that time, the health insurance company was on the verge of bankruptcy.

• Under Patel’s leadership, Wellcare grew to become the second-largest HMO in Florida and the fifth-largest in the US in a few years.

• In 1999, Patel invested $5 million to take control of WellCare HMO plans in New York and Connecticut.

• He ran WellCare for 10 years and sold it to a NY investment group led by George Soros and Todd Farha for $200 million in 2002. After that, Todd Farha succeeded Patel as CEO of the company.

• In the same year, he developed vitiligo disease, a condition in which white patches develop on the skin. Patel chose not to seek treatment for the condition as it doesn’t affect his health.
  

  A picture of Kiran C. Patel before developing vitiligo disease

• Patel signed a five-year noncompete agreement after selling Wellcare.

• In 2007, after the 5-year non-compete expired, he acquired the HMO holding company America’s 1st Choice of South Carolina.

• In 2008, he acquired Freedom Health Plan and Optimum Healthcare for $12 million in cash, a $5 million capital contribution, and 25 million shares of his healthcare holding company America’s 1st Choice Holdings of Florida, LLC.

• His business portfolio includes luxury real estate development, medical software, healthcare solutions, commercial property acquisition and management, personal aircraft and charter, restaurants

• Later, he started serving as the Chairman of Visionary Medical Systems.
  

  Kiran C Patel and Pallavi Patel (in white coats) during the reception to celebrate the opening of NSUMD

• Shah convinced the organizers to choose Tampa as the host city, but then, Patel had to take over the project from Shah due to some financial difficulties. Following the event, there were a series of lawsuits and counter-claims. However, it was settled out of court.

• His real estate portfolio includes the JW Marriott on Clearwater Beach and the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach, hotel properties in Colorado and Minneapolis, and Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast.

• In 2018, Patel sold America’s 1st Choice Holdings to Anthem (now called Elevance).

• In 2020, he acquired a 650-acre resort on Florida’s east coast.

• Kiran and Pallavi lived in the same house in Tampa for more than 30 years. After that, they built an Indian-style estate on 17 acres with separate homes for the Patels’ three children and their families, including six grandchildren. The complex included a film theatre, a Hindu temple, a golf simulator room, and a 12-car garage.
  

  Kiran C. Patel’s lavish 17-acre house in Hillsborough County

• In 2023, Patel again got into the health insurance business partnering with eternalHealth, a Boston-based company. At that time, he was a major shareholder of eternalHealth.

• Patel calls himself an “aggressive entrepreneur,” He believes in the old Gujarati saying,
  

  When the goddess of wealth comes knocking, don’t run away to wash your face.”

• Kiran and Pallavi’s friends and family fondly call them Dr. K and Dr. P.  ^[10]Florida Trend

• In 2024, Kiran Patel and his family members jointly purchased the English football (soccer) club West Bromwich Albion. As part of the agreement, his son, Shilen Patel, also became the chairman of the club.

• Kiran and Pallavi are active philanthropists and founders of the Drs. Kiran and Pallavi Patel Family Foundation.

• They have donated more than $240 million to support the arts, education and health care in Florida, which includes an $18.5 million gift to the University of South Florida in 2005 to establish the Dr. Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions.

• In 2005, they donated $3 million to a heart research institute at Florida Hospital Tampa.

• In November 2017, they donated $2.5 million for an early learning centre, gym, and computers at a public elementary school in a backward area of Tampa.

• In the same year, they gave $200m to Nova Southeastern University (NSU), which became the largest donation ever from an Indian-American to a US institution.
  

  Dr. Kiran C. Patel and his wife, Dr. Pallavi Patel announcing $200 million donation to Nova Southeastern University (NSU)

• Donations by the Patels have led to the establishment of various buildings and institutions bearing their name.

• The couple has also built various charity hospitals and schools in India and Zambia.

• In 2005, the Patels raised more than $2 million from people in the Tampa Bay area to rebuild an Indian village that had been destroyed by a tsunami.

• The Patels also teamed with a foundation run by a Florida-based couple, Horace and Hillary Morgan, to provide free eye surgeries in Jamaica. The Patels also spent about $300,000 to upgrade a dental clinic and pharmacy in Jamaica.
  

  Dr. Kiran Patel and Dr. Pallavi Patel donating $5 million to Florida Hospital Carrollwood

• In January 2019, the Clearwater City Council issued a resolution to rename Damascus Road as Dr Kiran C. Patel Boulevard in recognition of Patel’s contribution to Nova Southeastern University’s Tampa Bay Regional Campus.