Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Warren Buffett Honors His Hero, The Billionaire Who Secretly Gave It All Away
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, two of the most iconic philanthropists in the world, say their role model is Chuck Feeney, founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies, and a former billionaire who gave away his entire fortune almost completely unnoticed.
“Chuck has set an example,” Buffett said Tuesday while presenting Feeney with the Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Philanthropy. “It’s a real honor to talk about a fellow who is my hero and Bill Gates’ hero. He should be everybody’s hero.”
Feeney cofounded Duty Free Shoppers and made a fortune selling cigarettes, booze and bags to travelers. In 1984, he secretly transferred his 38.75% ownership of Duty Free to what became the Atlantic Philanthropies, his foundation. By the time Atlantic Philanthropies shuts down in 2016, it will have given away $7.5 billion to promote education, human rights, science and healthcare around the world. No one has ever given away the entirety of such a large fortune while they were still alive....