David Green (entrepreneur)
David Green, born November 13, 1941, in Emporia, Kansas, is an American businessman who founded Hobby Lobby, a chain of arts and crafts stores. He grew up in Oklahoma, where his father was a Christian pastor. He and his wife Barbara run Hobby Lobby with their three children. Their eldest son, Mart Green, runs Mardel Christian & Education and Every Tribe Entertainment; Steve Green is the president of Hobby Lobby and the main funder of the Museum of the Bible; daughter Darsee Lett is the Creative Director for Hobby Lobby stores.
Green started small in 1970 after borrowing $600 while working as a store manager for TG&Y. He partnered with Larry Pico to make and sell miniature picture frames in his garage, forming Greco Products. He eventually bought out Pico and paid workers, including people with cerebral palsy, a small wage per frame. By 1972 the business focused on arts and crafts, and he opened a 300-square-foot Hobby Lobby store in northwest Oklahoma City. In 1975 he left TG&Y and opened a second Hobby Lobby with a larger space.
A devout Christian, Green says he built his business on biblical principles. He has become a major donor to evangelical causes, donating about half of Hobby Lobby’s pretax earnings to evangelical ministries. By 2012 he had given an estimated $500 million.
Green opposed the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate and sued the government in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.
The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., was funded by Green at about $500 million. The museum has faced issues with some artifacts: in 2017, thousands of items from Hobby Lobby’s warehouse were returned to Iraq, and in 2020 more artifacts were returned to Egypt and Iraq; some papyrus fragments claimed to be Dead Sea Scrolls were later found to be forgeries. Forbes reported in 2020 that the museum received a PPP loan to help keep 249 jobs, with the museum saying the loan was used to pay staff while closed.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 16:37 (CET).