Obituary: The legacy of Charles 'Chuck' Feeney, America's most generous philanthropist businessman

American businessman-philanthropist Charles "Chuck" Feeney passed away, aged 92, on October 9.

Charles “Chuck” Feeney, 89, the reclusive billionaire who redefined air travel when he cofounded airport retailer Duty Free Shoppers with Robert Miller in 1960, could well have been the monk who sold his Ferrari, except that he didn’t own one. Chuck had his Eureka moment when he connected the dots between fat cats, early check-ins on international flights and people with both time and cash to burn. “Have we got time for duty-free?” became a far more important question than, “What time’s our flight?” thanks to his dazzling insights. But by far the greatest legacy he bequeathed to humanity when he passed away on October 9th 2023 was his profound and unique understanding of the greater common good. While lesser mortals preach the gospel of Art and Living and Osho, Chuck was walking the talk with his foundation, Atlantic Philathropies with its unique tagline: “Giving While Living”.

Perhaps it had something to do with his Irish roots and family conversations about the Irish potato famine but he was always faintly bemused by conspicuous consumption. In a September 2020 interview with the Guardian’s Rupert Neate, Christopher Oechsli, President and CEO chief executive of Atlantic Philanthropies, said Feeney would not preach his views to other members of the global super-rich. “But he would scratch his head and say ‘how many yachts or pairs of shoes do you need? What is it all this wealth accumulation about, when you can look about you and see such tremendous needs’.”

Oechsli said Feeney would not criticise other people for not giving more “but he would be dumbfounded – what is all that wealth about if you’re not going to do good with it?”

Feeney firmly believed there was not much point in setting up a foundation after one is dead and gone. Far better, he felt, to donate generously to a cause one believed in while one could see the changes wrought by the philanthropy. For him, the hackneyed phrase, “getting bang for your buck”, took on new meaning. He was also a firm believer in the Biblical injunction on charity, “Let your right hand not know what your left is doing,” by maintaining a fanatical anonymity about his charitable endowments. But perhaps the most unique aspect of this incredible man was his boundless generosity. Think of anybody you have heard or read about in the last three centuries who amassed a fortune of $8 billion, set aside a measly $ 2 million for himself and his wife and gave the rest away to charity. Oh and let’s also keep in mind that he achieved all this with the utmost tact, discretion and humility.

Feeney was the inspiration for Warren Buffet and Bill Gates and this is what the Sage of Omaha, had to say about him in a recent Forbes interview: “Chuck was a cornerstone in terms of inspiration for the Giving Pledge, he’s a model for us all. It’s going to take me 12 years after my death to get done what he’s doing within his lifetime.”

Here’s some homespun advice from Chuck in a 2012 Forbes piece by Steven Bertoni:

“Don't wait to give your money away when you're old or, even worse, dead. Instead, make substantial donations while you still have the energy, connections and influence to make waves. "People who have money have an obligation." Simple words, one that could well be found on a knitting sampler at an eco-friendly cafe but uttered in all seriousness by a man who followed it up with other-worldly zeal and energy. When is the last time you came across someone who donated to the Irish Republican Party, Sinn Fein, and then tossed in an undisclosed sum to their sworn enemies, the Ulster Group. It’s the equivalent of donating to a kibbutz in Sderot, Israel, while making sure that Hamas and the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are not ignored. Maybe that was the Feeney recipe for world peace? Give till it hurts for the sake of humanity.

At the risk of sounding like an accountant, how does one go about giving away $8 billion? Records suggest that Feeney gave $3.7 billion to education, with a billion set aside for his alma mater, Cornell. Roughly $870 million went to human rights and social change, including $62 million in grants to abolish the death penalty in the U.S. and $76 million for grassroots campaigns supporting the passage of Obamacare. He gave more than $700 million in gifts to public health ranging from a $270 million grant to Vietnam to a $176 million gift to the Global Brain Health Institute, a partnership program between Trinity College Dublin and the University of California, San Francisco.

But the most touching aspect of this incredible man who seems an amalgam of Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela and Gautama Buddha is his incredible humility. “We learned a lot. We would do some things differently, but I am very satisfied. I feel very good about completing this on my watch,” Feeney told Forbes. “My thanks to all who joined us on this journey. And to those wondering about Giving While Living: Try it, you'll like it.”

There is a curious divinity to how Feeney made his money and who he chose to give it to which makes the Robin Hood mentality seem like a common thief in comparison. He made a fortune selling perfume, handbags and booze to day trippers and first class travellers, and later launched private equity powerhouse General Atlantic, lived in a no-frills apartment in an affordable section of San Francisco and gave to charity with the panache of a highroller at Vegas. Kaching, kaching, kaching, take that Vietnam, knock yourself out Dublin, here’s something for the guys on Death Row, he was like the pinball wizard of charity. To keep himself rooted there was a small Lucite plaque on his mantelpiece: “Congratulations to Chuck Feeney for $8 billion of philanthropic giving.”

That's quintessential Feeney: no loose talk, just walk the walk. Keep it low key but when you cut a cheque, don’t sweat the zeroes. Feeney gave mega moolah to world-sized problems: trying to broker peace in Northern Ireland or spending $350 million to turn New York’s derelict Roosevelt Island into a technology hub. He even advised Jeff Bezos to pick a global problem that interested him and urged him to use his wealth and get involved. In a rare interview with RTE Ireland in 2010, Feeney said, “I have always empathised with people who have it tough in life. And the world is full of people who don’t get enough to eat.”

Legend has it that Feeney has lived a life that would make the Dalai Lama look like a jetsetter: he owned neither a car nor a house and, eat your heart out Imelda Marcos, only one pair of shoes. He flew economy and the irony was he did this even when his wife, kids and colleagues were flying business class on the same plane.

Oechsli, the Atlantic Philathropies CEO who has worked for Feeney for more than 30 years, said his boss gave the high roller lifestyle a shot but found out that luxury just didn’t suit him.  Been there done that, didn’t bother buying the T shirt, just about sums it up.  Closer to home, some of us have heard apocryphal stories about $7 billion net worth and Rs 7000/- monthly expenses but they were fairy tales. Feeney actually did own a $10 Casio watch and carried his papers in a plastic bag. I’d have given anything to be a fly on the wall when he sold out to LMVH in 1996 for $2.47 billion against the wishes of his co-founder, Robert W Miller. Despite having had such a successful long-term partnership, the two men are as alike as chalk and cheese.

In stark contrast to Feeney, Mr. Miller is perhaps best known for the lavish weddings he has given his three daughters. In 1995, his middle daughter, Marie-Chantal married Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece in a ceremony at the Cathedral of Aghia Sophia in London attended by 1,400 people for whom the father of the bride coughed up a cool $1.5 million. The other two weddings didn’t come cheap either, given that his daughter Pia married an heir to the Getty fortune while Alexandra the youngest, married a von Furstenberg.

Basically Feeney’s attitude to money is in stark contrast to his DFS co-founder, Robert Miller, the 293rd richest person in the world, who reputedly has a net worth of $6 billion. Miller ticks all the billionaire boxes with luxury homes in Hong Kong, New York, Paris and Switzerland, plus a 35,800 acre in Yorkshire.

Not that they were on Chatty Cathy terms earlier given their remarkably different personalities but Miller and Feeney have not spoken since the latter sold his stake in 1996.In fact it was this dispute over the sale that led to Feeney’s hidden philanthropy being exposed during the discovery period in the legal proceedings.

Feeney is the grandson of immigrants from County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, and he has been more than generous to the land of his forefathers providing the seed capital for the founding of the University of Limerick. Clearly a man of conscience, he joined the 2003 protest march through London against the invasion of Iraq.

Feeney has five children, four daughters and one son, with his first wife Danielle. While the rich arrange internships at E&Y or KPMG, the Feeney children did summer jobs as waiters or chambermaids. He was a perfect gentleman who gave his first wife, Danielle Morali Daninos all of their 7 jointly owned homes when they divorced in the 90’s.  He later married Helga Flaiz, his longtime assistant.