The Osmond family, once cited by a Mormon elder for setting “the greatest example of missionary work,” has helped raise billions of dollars for children’s hospitals over the years.

Brad Pitt is unlikely to quit his day job, especially with a houseful of Jolie-Pitt munchkins. And judging from the picture of partner Angelina’s much talked about “bump” during this past weekend’s Independent Spirit Awards, child number five may be on the way.

Texas has Jerry Jones, Mark Cuban, Ross Perot, the Basses and the Hunts. And then there are the Butts.

Ellen DeGeneres is like the Big Easy. She’s all about fun. After Hurricane Katrina, add big heart.

Ellen, a native of New Orleans, has raised over $10 million dollars for Katrina relief. In Fat Tuesday’s episode of the Ellen DeGeneres Show, she focused again on Katrina relief efforts. Former President George H. W. Bush sent a videotaped message thanking her for her fundraising.

In the same show, Ellen gave a new GM Acadia to a single mother who lost her home in the hurricane and works 20 hours a day so she could rebuild. She continues to ask her viewers to support Brad Pitt’s Make It Right, a group that hopes to build 150 environmentally friendly homes in the Lower 9th Ward. She has raised over $800,000 for Pitt.

Lev Leviev is perhaps best known as the man who defied De Beers, the mighty cartel that controlled the flow of the world’s supply of rough diamonds.

By doing so, Leviev has become one of the world’s richest men. Close friends claim he’s worth about $8 billion, but Forbes lists him at a conservative $4.1 billion.

And of course, immense wealth almost always makes access easier to the halls of political power. Among his circle of friends are the heads of state of the splintered republics of the former Soviet Union and the African nations of Angola and Namibia.

While visiting his West Coast Limited stores in the late 1970s, Leslie Wexner was intrigued by a shop that sold women’s underwear. It was called Victoria’s Secret.

It was brothel Victorian, he once said in an interview. Not erotic, but very sexy.

Wexner, who left his family’s general clothing store to specialize in women’s casual wear, saw the possibilities. He bought the store and catalog in 1982 for $1 million.

Andre Agassi

Hey, bowling fans, ever wondered whom to thank for ESPN’s coverage of your once-neglected sport? That’s Steve Miller, who, while president and CEO of the Professional Bowlers Association, negotiated two exclusive television deals with the network.

This week, Miller was named to the newly created post of chief executive officer of the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, which is trying to become national in scope.

Move over Martha Stewart because Rachael Ray’s souffle is rising.

In a year that saw the share price of the once-mighty Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia sag precipitously, Stewart dropped off Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women.

Ray, meanwhile, strengthened her claim as America’s new domestic diva in 2007. She signed a new contract with Food Network, and pulled down $16 million for her thriving year-old network television talk show.

It can be hard to measure the size of someone’s ego. But not that of venture capitalist Tom Perkins.

His ego measures precisely 289.1 feet long and is named the Maltese Falcon, a new class of super yacht.

Perkins co-founded in 1972 what is now Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of the most successful VC firms in the world. At one point, Perkins was a director of 14 portfolio companies, three of which he chaired and which were traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

“Image is everything,” a shaggy-haired Andre Agassi proclaimed as he hawked Canon cameras as a teenager.

Over the next 20 years, the tennis superstar traded handsomely on his world-famous name and image, earning an estimated $200 million through deals with Nike, Adidas, Head, Genworth Financial, Aramis and American Express, among others.