Charles Feeney, philanthropist who gave away billions, dies at 92

Sometime in the early 1980s, Charles Feeney took stock of what he had. He had luxury apartments in New York, London and Paris and posh getaways in Aspen and the French Riviera. He hobnobbed with the other mega-rich on yachts and private jets.

If he wanted it, he could afford it, after amassing a multibillion-dollar fortune as one of the first moguls in duty-free shopping. Gradually, though, he grew uneasy with having so much for himself and began to consider the obligations that came with great wealth.

He decided to give nearly all of it away — close to $8 billion — donation by donation, charity by charity, year after year.

“It’s much more fun to give while you are alive than to give when you are dead,” said Feeney, who died Oct. 9 at 92 at his home in San Francisco. It was a modest two-bedroom apartment.

“‘How much is rich?’” he replied to a query about his wealth in Conor O’clery’s biography “The Billionaire Who Wasn’t” (2007). “‘Beyond all expectations. Beyond all deserving, so to speak. I just reached the conclusion with myself that money, buying boats and all the trimmings didn’t appeal to me.’”

Feeney’s decades of quiet philanthropy - nearly always bestowed anonymously - often attracted far less public attention than other major foundations and donors who have their names inscribed on places such as hospital wings and cultural venues. Yet the reach of Feeney’s “giving while living” was virtually unparalleled in its scope and diversity.

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, Feeney also played crucial behindthe-scenes roles in the Northern Ireland peace process, including serving as a conduit for both Protestant groups and Sinn Féin, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army.

afeeney, who was widely known as Chuck, was so successful at dispersing his riches that the company he formed in 1982 to oversee the donations, Atlantic Philanthropies, wrapped up its work in 2016 with one last check to Cornell. Atlantic closed its doors for good in 2020. (Feeney set aside about $2 million for himself and his wife and arranged some income for his five children.)