In June 2019, Forbes ranked him as the 233rd-wealthiest person in the world[2] and the 78th-wealthiest in the United States, with an estimated net worth of $6.7 billion.

[3] He was known for his philanthropic commitment to transforming public K–12 education to a charter school model, scientific and medical research, and the visual and performing arts.

[7][page needed][8] Broad attended Michigan State University, majoring in accounting with a minor in economics and graduating cum laude in 1954.

[7] Broad became the youngest Michigan resident to attain the credentials of Certified Public Accountant (CPA), a record he held until 2010.

[7][page needed] Wanting to work on his own, he founded his own accounting firm and was offered office space by the husband of his wife's cousin, Donald Bruce Kaufman, in return for doing the books for Kaufman's small homebuilding and subcontracting business.

By streamlining the construction process and eliminating basements, offering a carport instead, they could price the houses so the monthly mortgage would be less than the rent for a two-bedroom apartment.

[8][9] After one weekend, seventeen were sold and within two years, Kaufman and Broad had built 600 homes in the Detroit suburbs.

In 2012, Broad's book, The Art of Being Unreasonable: Lessons in Unconventional Thinking,[13] was published by Wiley and Sons and debuted as a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Washington Post bestseller.

[20] As of October 2017, the Broads had given more than $4 billion to support K-12 public schools, advance scientific and medical research, and bring contemporary art to as wide an audience as possible.

[22] The stated mission of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation's education work is to expand learning opportunities to students from underserved communities so they can reach their full potential.

[27] The Broad Center identifies, develops, and supports outstanding leaders who are inspired to work towards transforming public education into an engine of excellence and equity.

[32] Broad was the founding chairman of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 1979 and chaired the board until 1984.

[37] In August 2010, Eli Broad announced that he would build a contemporary art museum in Los Angeles.

[38] Diller Scofidio + Renfro were chosen through an architectural competition to design the approximately 120,000-square-foot museum, which includes exhibition space, offices, and a parking garage.

Broad was instrumental in securing the $50 million deposit from the project developer, Related Companies, that opened Grand Park in summer 2012.

[44] Broad's first civic board membership and significant investment in education was a $10 million commitment to Pitzer College in 1970.

[50] The Broad Foundation's first major investment in scientific and medical research was in the field of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

[53] In 2003, Eli and Edythe Broad gave the $100 million founding gift to create the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard,[54] which aims to improve human health by using genomics to advance the understanding of the biology of human disease and lay the groundwork for a new generation of therapies.

[59] One year later, they gave a major gift to the University of California, San Francisco for the new headquarters of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, which opened in February 2011.

[60] In 2009, the Broads gave $5 million to fund the Joint Center for Translational Medicine at Caltech and UCLA.

[67] Their first major purchase was made in 1973, when he and Edye first acquired a Van Gogh drawing entitled Cabanes a Saintes-Maries, 1888.

[76] Broad died on April 30, 2021, at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California after a long illness, at age 87.

[5] Broad was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1994 was named Chevalier in the National Order of the Legion of Honor by the Republic of France.

[79] He received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2007[80] and the David Rockefeller Award from the Museum of Modern Art in March 2009.