Charles Feeney is 91 years old and lives in San Francisco.
charles feeney he did not have his own house or even car. His watch is almost worth more than 10 dollars and, at 91 years old, he doesn’t have any kind of luxury in his life. However, and though his austerity may suggest otherwise, this man is a billionaire: He came to amass a fortune of over 8,000 million dollars.
He succeeded when, in 1960, he changed his business: he decided that the stores he used to sell American military products traveling to Europe would become duty-free stores. Thus he created, with his partner Robert Miller, a business empire that all those who boarded the plane for some time helped raise. His company, Duty Free Shoppers (DFS), now employs more than 9,000 people worldwide.
However, beyond business successes, what Charles Feeney was really interested in was helping others and he began to donate money to various associations and projects around the planet. Feeney traveled the world with his businesses, but he took the opportunity to learn about the needs of the different groups that, secretly and without interest, he gave large sums of money.
Her biographer, Conor O’Clery, confirmed that Feeney’s life changed after reading ‘Wealth’, the work of a famous American philanthropist named Andrew Carnegie also known as ‘The Gospel of Wealth’. Some phrases like “the rich die will die in disgrace” they made a change Charles Feeney.
Feeney gave up his entire wealth.
When he turned 50, the business tycoon decided to create a foundation to channel his donations. So, in 1982 was born The Atlantic Philanthropies, an NGO that aims Distribute your fortune around the world through donations to the most diverse causes.
However, for the first 15 years of existence, these donations were still made in secret, so some people hung up the James Bond nickname of charity. Now, at age 89, Charles Feeney can look back and feel good about what he has done with his life.
As published by the BBC, his philanthropic organization will cease to exist at the end of this year because it has fulfilled its purpose: to give all of its money to fair causes as long as he lives. In total, approximately 8,000 million dollars, more than 7,000 million euros should be changed.
Duty Free today, during the pandemic. Photo: Reuters.
The reason closest to his heart was education and he received the highest percentage of donations. Cornell University, his alma mater, has received nearly a billion dollars over the years for projects such as building the technology campus.
Another 870 million dollars will be allocated to social goals focused on human rights. He donated $ 62 million as grants to groups working to abolish the death penalty in the United States and $ 76 million to campaigns promoting the Obamacare bill.
Another big reason is Feeney’s health. He has donated more than $ 700 million in aid to this sector, including a $ 270 million grant to improve the public health system in Vietnam and a $ 176 million check to the Institute for Global Brain Health at the University of California, San Francisco. .
Charles Feeney and Bill Gates, to whom he added to his philanthropy.
Charles Feeney, Chuck with his friends, Today he lives with his wife in a small two bedroom apartment in San Francisco.. He didn’t need it anymore because he was happy that way, like his ten dollar watch. His way of looking at life has influenced other talented millionaires like Warren Buffet or the Gates couple, who joined his “donate while living” initiative. A great man.
Sources: El Confidencial / BBC
Source: Clarin
