Charles Chrin Net Worth: The $50 Million Estate and Its Fate

Charles Chrin, the Palmer Township developer who founded the Charles Chrin Companies and the Chrin Brothers Landfill, died in June 2018 at age 94. His estate was estimated at $50 million, according to court records reported by lehighvalleylive.com. But by 2021, after debts, mortgages, taxes and legal fees, the estate's attorney said only about $5.5 million in cash was left, and family members were fighting in court over what remained.

What Was Charles Chrin's Net Worth?

The only published figure is the estimate of his estate at death: about $50 million, cited in a February 2021 court petition and reported by lehighvalleylive.com. That number is the gross value of the estate, not what his heirs received. According to the same filing:

• Most of the estate's real estate, valued at about $35 million, was sold to raise cash.
• The estate carried considerable debts, loans and mortgages, plus inheritance and estate taxes and attorney fees.
• After those were paid, about $5.5 million in cash remained.
• The estate still held an interest in a farming corporation, $8 million in promissory notes and a company called Hollo Acres Development.
• Ownership interests in the Chrin businesses, divided among the family, were estimated at $13 million, lehighvalleylive.com reported.

The old version of this page gave his net worth as "$50 million as of 2018" without a source and described him as a living 70-year-old. The $50 million estimate is now attributed, and the other claims have been corrected.

Charles Chrin's Yearly Earnings and Income

The old page listed a yearly income of $2.5 million, $208,000 a month and $7,000 a day. There is no source for those numbers, and they have been removed. His income came from the family companies. A 2021 lawsuit filed on behalf of the Chrin Companies said they had more than 100 employees and annual revenue in the tens of millions of dollars.

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The Charles Chrin Companies

Chrin founded the Charles Chrin Companies in Palmer Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in 1955 and stayed involved into his 90s, according to Lehigh Valley Business. The family businesses grew to include:

• Chrin Brothers Landfill in Williams Township, set up in 1961 and grown into a 108-acre solid waste site.
• Trash hauling and excavation businesses.
• Landfill gas power: a company that turns methane from the landfill into electricity.
• Real estate: residential and commercial development, including the Chrin Commerce Centre, a complex with millions of square feet of warehouses. The companies owned about 1,000 acres around the Route 33 interchange near Tatamy, making Chrin one of the largest landowners in Northampton County.

The Route 33 Interchange

Chrin's company paid to build a Route 33 interchange in Palmer Township that opened in 2015 and carries his name. His obituary called it his crown jewel. The $40 million project gave trucks direct access to the Chrin Commerce Centre and is credited with speeding up warehouse and distribution development in the area.

Philanthropy

• Health care: He gave $1 million each to Lehigh Valley Health Network and St. Luke's University Health Network during his life and left $5 million to each in his will. The Charles Chrin Heart and Vascular Center is named for him.
• Charles Chrin Community Center: The family donated millions to build the community center in Palmer Township, which offers fitness and recreation programs.

The Estate Dispute (2018–2021)

After his death, his widow and sons went to court over the estate. The widow, Janet Corriere Chrin, was his fourth wife and married him in 2015, the estate's attorney wrote. Disputes included a $1.23 million account, a $600,000 tax refund and a $3 million claim for real estate commissions by his son James. Separately, in 2021 the Chrin Companies sued James, accusing him of setting up his own company to take business from his brothers and of using the company credit card for personal expenses. Those were allegations in a civil suit, and his side of the case was not reported in the coverage we found.

In August 2021, sons Greg and Dennis Chrin said they had settled with Corriere Chrin on undisclosed terms, and that the estate would pay the hospital pledges in full through substantial annual payments. The court records said there had not been enough cash in May 2021 to pay the full $10 million at once, and in July 2021 it was still unclear how much the two hospital networks had received.

Family

Chrin was survived by his wife, Janet, and his sons Dennis, Gregory and James, plus grandchildren, according to Lehigh Valley Business. Greg Chrin holds the voting shares of the landfill, excavation and administrative companies, and all three brothers have ownership stakes in the business, according to the 2021 lawsuit.

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Age and Death

Charles Chrin died on a Saturday in June 2018 at age 94, WFMZ reported. The old page's age of 70, height and weight, and its generic paragraphs about his education and childhood had no source and have been removed.