Feeney’s generosity was channeled through his foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, which he began funding in the early 1980s. Despite his immense wealth, Feeney chose to live simply, spending his final days in a modest, rented apartment. In 2016, he made headlines with a $7 million donation to his alma mater, Cornell University, to support student community service programs. This final gift marked the closure of Atlantic Philanthropies, fulfilling Feeney’s promise to give away all his wealth during his lifetime. His legacy serves as a powerful reminder that true wealth lies in how much you give, not how much you keep.
Man donates his entire fortune of $8 billion before passing away at the age of 92
How one man's extraordinary generosity reshaped philanthropy.
While many amass great wealth, few embody the selflessness of Charles Francis Feeney, who gave away his entire fortune during his lifetime. Feeney, a pioneering tech investor and the visionary behind the global success of duty-free shops, passed away on October 9, 2023, at the age of 92. According to The New York Times, Feeney died peacefully at his home in San Francisco after a life dedicated to philanthropy, having donated his entire $8 billion fortune to charitable causes.
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According to the outlet, the former billionaire retained only $2 million for himself after living a humble life while he worked to expand his business for six decades. "Chuck Feeney is a remarkable role model and the ultimate example of giving while living," co-founder of Microsoft Bill Gates told Forbes in 2012. Warren Buffett handed over a Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award to Feeney in 2014 and called him "my hero and Bill Gates's hero—he should be everybody's hero," per Forbes. In contrast to other philanthropists, Feeney anonymously contributed to medical institutions, universities, human rights groups, and others.
The Atlantic Institute is deeply saddened by the death of the founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies, Charles Chuck Feeney. We are thankful for his vision, immense generosity and his lasting legacy. Read our tribute: https://t.co/WhmvUIYR80 pic.twitter.com/waDz0JuGL6
— Atlantic Fellows (@atlanticfellows) October 9, 2023
His charity work aimed to improve people's lives in the United States, Vietnam, South Africa, Australia, Israel, and Jordan, to name a few. Being an Irish-American, he was more open about his charity work in Northern Ireland, which he visited frequently. He was also invited to join leaders of the United States, Britain, and Ireland at the initiation of a power-sharing government in Belfast in 2007. He used to make most of his donations to institutions through cashier's cheques and the beneficiaries were informed that the benefactor happens to be a generous person who wished to remain anonymous.
Feeney had a difficult childhood as he was raised in a working-class household that struggled during the Great Depression. He went on to serve in the Air Force, then studied hotel management and entered the duty-free shopping business. By the 1980s, he had invested about $35 million into the hotel business, land deals, retail shops, clothing companies, and tech start-ups. However, his affluent life was not really doing much to bring him peace. "He was beginning to have doubts about his right to have so much money," Conor O'Clery wrote in a biography of Mr. Feeney, "The Billionaire Who Wasn't."
May his kind soul rest in peace, and his vision for a more equitable and inclusive world live on 🙏🤍🕊️
— Harsha Somaroo (@SHA_ZAR) October 9, 2023
He impacted on so so many lives and set a high standard for philanthropy. An amazing man
— Fidelma Carolan (@fid1dec) October 9, 2023
Feeney turned his extravagant lifestyle around and started living humbly. "All Feeney's instincts, instilled in him by the example of his parents, by the sharing culture of his blue-collar upbringing in New Jersey, by his desire not to distance himself from his boyhood neighbors and friends, and by his own innate kindness and concern for others, undoubtedly shaped his decision," O'Clery further wrote.
His anonymity as a humanitarian benefaction was finally disclosed in 1997 after Feeney and a partner sold their interest in Duty-Free Shoppers to Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy. The legal filings disclosed that the value of his share at $1.5 billion belonged to a philanthropist residing in Bermuda who has been making anonymous donations for the past 15 years. It was actually Feeney himself. The world will always remember a man like him and his generosity during his lifetime in helping those in need.
This article originally appeared 1 year ago.
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