Les Gold Biography

Fast Facts

• Regularly supports the THAW Foundation, a non-profit aimed at helping local Detroit residents with paying their heating and electricity bills during winter
• The grandson of a well-known pawn shop owner in Michigan, he began working at the family business at seven-years-old
• Quote: "My grandfather would be so proud to see what I have done for the industry and what I have done for pawnbrokers of the nation․"
• Became the subject of the TruTV reality series "Hardcore Pawn" in 2009 after a producer of "The Jerry Springer Show" saw his ads running during commercial breaks and contacted him about starring in his own program
• Published his first autobiography, "For What It's Worth: Business Wisdom From a Pawnrboker," in 2013
• In 1993, he turned a 50,000 square foot bowling alley into the American Jewelry and Loan