The Fight of Richard Rainwater's Life

The renowned dealmaker built a fortune using little besides his wits. Now he's funding a crash program to stop the disease that's destroying his mind.

In March 2009, Dr. Bruce Miller, head of the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California's medical school in San Francisco, received a call from a doctor in New York City, asking him to see a patient named Richard Rainwater.

A behavioral neurologist and scholar of dementia, Miller had never heard of Rainwater, a silver-haired Texas billionaire and a legend in the world of dealmaking. But he was accustomed to such calls. Decades of research into the human brain had made him a go-to man for the rich and powerful with neurological mysteries.

PSP is a fast-moving, degenerative brain disease, with no treatment and no cure. The typical life expectancy from diagnosis: 4 1⁄2 years. "In the world I live in," the doctor told Rainwater's friends and family, "this is the worst disease I see."

Of all life's cruelties, it seems especially tragic that Richard Rainwater would suffer from this affliction. Rainwater is a self-made billionaire, a Texas incarnation of the Horatio Alger story. But he hasn't built a chain of discount stores or a computer company or even a private equity firm to leave behind. No, Rainwater's business genius has always been his energy and imagination -- his uncanny ability to see where the world is going and find a way to exploit that turn. It was his personal magic that made big deals happen: his ability to pick the right opportunity, the right partners, the right CEO, and then to provide inspiration. The billion-dollar edifice he built was all in his head.

And now it's crumbling away.

Today Rainwater requires 24-hour care. He is unable to walk unassisted. He has trouble swallowing. His speech is almost impossible to understand. "Of anybody I ever met, Richard was the most charismatic, the most outgoing, most hands-on, huggy, high-fiving, jumping-up-and-down, vivacious executive," says Michael Eisner, whom Rainwater helped install as CEO of the Walt Disney Co. (DIS) "And then to have him relegated to this condition that incapacitates him? It's the irony of human existence."

In the months after Rainwater's diagnosis, his 73-year-old brother, Walter, with help from the billionaire's private security team, served as his primary caregiver. Round-the-clock nursing care was later brought in, and Rainwater's three children rallied around him, with his youngest son, Matthew, relieving Walter at his side.

In March 2011, the issue of who calls the shots -- for Rainwater and his money -- moved into court. Rainwater's estate lawyer filed a petition in probate court in Fort Worth, seeking to declare him incapacitated and requesting the appointment of Matthew as his legal guardian. Under Texas law, a spouse is first in line to fill such a role. But Rainwater had signed a written designation expressing his preference for his son's appointment.

Ultimately, Moore says, everyone agreed to the selection of Matthew, who was granted limited powers after being named temporary guardian of his father's "person and estate." The guardianship resolved shared family concerns that someone might encourage Rainwater, in his diminished state, to rewrite his will. It also clarifies who would be allowed to make immediate medical decisions for him, should a crisis develop.

It is unclear precisely how contentious the probate case has been. To keep the matter confidential, it was filed under Rainwater's initials, titled "In the matter of Guardianship of R.E.R., an Incapacitated person." Citing family privacy concerns, a judge ordered the entire case file sealed, and no one directly involved is eager to talk about it. But a docket sheet obtained by Fortune shows substantial activity, listing multiple contested motions, several court hearings, and an order subjecting Rainwater to an independent medical examination.

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The Fight of Richard Rainwater's Life