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Chuck Feeney recently reached his goal of donating $ 8 billion and then closing his foundation.
Charles “Chuck” Feeney is a billionaire who has always dreamed not of accumulating more and more wealth, but of donating all his money for charitable purposes.
The 89-year-old American businessman recently reached his goal of donating almost $ 8 billion (about R $ 45 billion) in charitable actions around the world.
Money you never used to lead a lifestyle compatible with your income. He has no home or car and is famous for wearing a watch that only costs $ 15.
“I had an idea that never left my head: that you should use your wealth to help people,” said the philanthropist.
And, for a long time, he donated money anonymously.
When the BBC News Mundo journalist Gerardo Lissardy, the BBC’s Spanish service, asked the billionaire in 2017 why he was doing it in secret, he replied: “Not to have to explain to people why.”
Feeney was the first in his family to go to college.
According to Conor O’Clery, who wrote a biography of Feeney, the inspiration came from the essay Wealth, Also know as The gospel of wealth, does the famous American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
Phrases like “to die rich is to die in disgrace” left a mark on Feeney.
He traveled the world in secret, looking for projects that he believed in, and for that reason he was nicknamed “James Bond” of philanthropy.
O’Clery says that the billionaire is now “very happy” to have fulfilled his mission after almost 40 years, which became a cause for celebration for the businessman and wife Helga, with whom he lives in a two-bedroom apartment in the city of San. Francisco.
Short biography
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‘Chuck’ made his fortune with a chain of duty-free airport stores
Charles F. Feeney was born in 1931 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, just at the time of the Great Depression in the United States.
His mother worked as a nurse in a hospital and his father was an insurance broker.
From a very young age, he showed the ability to undertake: at age 10, he sold Christmas cards from door to door.
As a teenager, Feeney enlisted in the military and fought in the Korean War.
He took advantage of a US government program for veterans and became the first member of his family to go to college.
After graduating from Cornell University in New York, he started his own business selling goods to American soldiers on a mission to Europe.
This business model evolved for Duty Free Shoppers (DFS), the duty-free sales company for travelers, with stores at airports and ports, which he co-founded with Robert Miller in 1960.
DFS now employs more than 9,000 people and describes itself as “the world’s leading luxury retailer in the tourism business,” with billions in sales.
“With wealth comes responsibility,” he said on a few occasions.
“People must define themselves or feel the responsibility to use part of their resources to improve the lives of their peers, or else they will create unsolvable problems for future generations.”
‘James Bond’ Philanthropy
Credit, Noah berger
The foundation created by Feeney will be closed once the goal is reached
In 1982, Chuck created the Atlantic Philanthropies Foundation, an international organization for the purpose of distributing his fortune to good causes and projects around the world.
For the first 15 years, Feeney secretly donated money, until his philanthropy was left anonymous in 1997.
Since the inception of Atlantic Philanthropies, there have been nearly $ 8 billion in donations.
In Latin America, the foundation donated US $ 66 million (R $ 370 million) to organizations with health projects in Cuba.
“Some investments have also financed work to help normalize relations between Cuba and the United States,” says the foundation.
The funds also financed projects in Northern Ireland, the United States, Australia, South Africa and Vietnam.
Atlantic Philanthropies has announced that it will cease operations after the last day of 2020 as Feeney’s goal has been achieved.
The “give while you live” entrepreneur philosophy has inspired other billionaires, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett; however, he is not as well known as some of his billionaire fans, possibly because he secretly donated during the first 15 years of his mission.
* With information from Damien Edgar, BBC News.
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