Chuck Feeney, Biography Of A Philanthropist
It is by chance that today we can speak of Chuck Feeney as an extraordinary philanthropist, model for the world. It is not possible to know how many people it has helped, but it can be presumed that they number in the thousands, or perhaps millions. He was in charge of distributing all his fortune, secretly, and only chance caused his name to be revealed.
Chuck Feeney has been said to be the exact polar opposite of Donald Trump. The latter has never hidden his particular weakness for money and his commercial pragmatism. Ferney, on the other hand, has done the opposite: they do not care about material goods and are committed to humanistic causes that even go against the political correctness in his country.
Likewise, while Trump has worked to be on the richest list, Chuck Feeney has sought to be outside of it. Feeney is also said to have made and given away his own money, but the current president of the United States has made his fortune working with other people’s money.
Chuck Feeney, a humble origin
Chuck Feeney is not the heir to a great fortune, but managed to obtain millions of dollars thanks to his own efforts. He was born on April 23, 1931 in New Jersey (United States). She came from a humble Irish family, recently arrived in North America, made up of a mother who was a nurse and a father who sold insurance.
Feeney was born at the height of the Great Depression, in the United States. Everything was scarce back then, so he was raised in the midst of great limitations. His first job was at age 10 and was selling Christmas cards door to door, to get some extra money.
Later he enlisted in the Air Force of his country and served as a cash in the Korean War. He then took advantage of a government veterans benefits program and was thus able to pursue higher education at Cornell University in New York. There he graduated as a hotel manager and was the first person in his family to earn a university degree.
A great fortune
Chuck Feeney, along with Robert Miller, founded the Duty Free Shoppers (DFS) company in 1960. This was the pioneer in Duty Free shops and began selling merchandise to US troops in other countries. The business began to grow and soon became a more than successful venture.
In a few years Feeney was at the forefront of the Duty Free markets in the world and became a millionaire who, for some, had some “eccentricities”. He wasn’t the type to have extravagant tastes, defied danger, or paid millions at auctions for ridiculous items. What was exotic about him was that he continued to behave in an austere manner.
He was not fond of expensive restaurants and always traveled economy class. He wore a watch that cost $15 and was never seen at big events. When he already had a great fortune, he decided that it was more than he and his family needed. For this reason, and in secret, he created The Atlantic Philanthropies foundation and began to give away his money.
A great human being
To this day, Chuck Feeney is the proportionally largest donor in the US in American history. It is estimated that in total he has given 8,000 million dollars. Others have donated higher amounts, but they always keep most of the fortune for themselves. Feeney no: basically he has given everything he has.
He simply set aside two million dollars, which he considered enough for him and his family to live the rest of their existence. He currently lives in a rented apartment in San Francisco. He doesn’t have a car, he still travels economy class and always eats in modest places.
Chuck Feeney wanted all his work to be kept secret. However, the process with some of his actions revealed what had happened to his fortune. This ended, for example, by improving the health system in Cuba and Vietnam; also contributing to peace in Ireland and funding programs in South Africa.
When asked why he has done all this, he simply replies that he is happy to know that the world is a better place, thanks to what he has done. He had no particular purpose in donating, he just wanted to make others happy. He himself lives happily with what he is and what he has achieved.
