Photo: Atlantic Philanthropies
He could have lived in luxury from a fortune made in duty free shopping, but Charles Feeney gave nearly all of it away -- close to $8 billion. "It's much more fun to give while you are alive than to give when you are dead," he said. He died Oct. 9th, 2023 at 92 at his modest home in San Francisco. His donations spanned from public health facilities in Vietnam to humanitarian efforts in Haiti; clinics for HIV and AIDS patients in South Africa to nearly $1 billion for his alma mater, Cornell University. In the 1990s, he played crucial behind-the-scenes roles in the Northern Ireland peace process. Forbes magazine once dubbed him the "James Bond of philanthropy," and he inspired billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, co-founders of the Giving Pledge. "I cannot think of a more personally rewarding and appropriate use of wealth than to give while one is living, to personally devote oneself to meaningful efforts to improve the human condition," he wrote.
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