American billionaire Chuck Feeney has died at the age of 93. Feeney founded the Duty Free chain of duty-free stores.
He is also known for his charitable activities: the businessman gave $8 billion to charity.
Charles Feeney died on Monday, October 9, 2023, according to The Atlantic Philanthropies, which the businessman founded and funded since the 1980s (closed in 2020).
The entrepreneur, along with Robert Miller, founded the Duty Free Shoppers duty-free chain in 1960.
Feeney was one of the first to open duty-free shops at airports, founding the Duty Free Shoppers chain in 1960.
In 1988, he was included in the list of the 400 richest billionaires in the United States according to Forbes, but at that time his fortune was estimated at $1.3 billion.
Years later, it turned out that his wealth was much larger and that Feeney secretly transferred most of it to a charity.
According to Forbes, Charles Feeney earned $7.5 billion from Duty Free Shoppers.
Feeney was the author of the idea of Giving While Living – his goal was to give most of his earnings to charity during his lifetime, rather than through a foundation that would operate after his death. In total, he donated about $8 billion over several decades, almost all of his wealth.
Feeney invested in science, social activities, healthcare, human rights organizations, and made large donations to solve social problems.
Until 1997, he transferred money secretly, according to The New York Times. Because of his secrecy, Forbes called Feeney the "James Bond of philanthropy" in 2012.
Feeney donated $3.7 billion to education, including about $1 billion to his native Cornell University.
He has given more than $870 million to human rights and social change, including $62 million in grants to abolish the death penalty in the United States and $76 million to support Obama's health care reform.
By 2022, according to Forbes, Feeney's net worth was less than $2 million. He himself said that this was the amount he had left for himself and his wife for retirement.
Feeney has been making donations for 40 years. He believes that it is better to give money away while you are alive and enjoy the results, because you can't take your savings with you after you die anyway.