Ball bearings make this mother and son high rollers. They jointly own one the world's largest producers of roller bearings, $7.2 billion (revenues) INA Waelzlager Schaeffler KG. Son Georg has left the running of the company in the competent hands of his mother, preferring to practice international business law at Haynes and Boone in Dallas. A well-known figure in Bavaria where she lives, Maria Elizabeth has been awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit for her commitment to social issues and the German Cross of Merit for her entrepreneurial achievements. Opera fan rumored to have named her two dogs Fidelio and Tosca.
