“If no one knew me, I’d be just as happy,” this Lake Forest billionaire told Crain’s Chicago Business back in 2005. But anonymity is impossible when the beer distributing empire you built with your younger brother (Jude, 57) is the nation’s largest (95 million cases a year). His December purchase of craft brew specialist Windy City Distribution further solidifies Reyes’s grip on this suds-loving city.

Photograph: PHIL VELASQUEZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNE