Posted: 18 September 2007
Chuck Feeney, the secretive billionaire who transformed Irish university research
Chuck Feeney’s worth was estimated at €1.3 billion by Forbes Magazine in 1998, making him the twenty-third richest American alive. But Forbes got it wrong, because in 1992, Feeney had secretly and irrevocably transferred the vast majority of his near 40% stake in “Duty Free Shoppers” (DFS) to his charitable foundation – Atlantic Philanthropies.
Until now, Chuck Feeney’s story has been one of the greatest untold triumphs of the twentieth century. But with the publication of a new book entitled “The Billionare Who Wasn’t: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune,” by Conor O’Clery, all that is about to change.
Pictured were Conor O'Clery and Dr. Hugh Brady, President of UCD, at the launch of the 'Billionaire Who Wasn't' at UCD campus bookshop.
“Conor O’Clery, former Irish Times, Foreign Correspondent in London, Moscow, Beijing, Washington and New York is to be commended for capturing the essence of a unique man and his unique life story,” said Dr Hugh Brady, President of UCD, at the launch of the book at UCD on 12 September 2007. “It tells the story of a man who has set the future global trajectory of philanthropy.”
It was only in 1997, when Feeney sold his interests in DFS, that his work as one of the greatest and most mysterious American philanthropists of modern times became known. Feeney’s philanthropy surpasses that of the Mellons, the Rockefellers and the Du Ponts.
Atlantic Philanthropies has donated several hundred million dollars to finance university research, libraries and on-campus accommodation on both sides of the Irish border.
Often funds which were donated from Atlantic Philanthropies leveraged the matching major financial resources from the Irish Government - PRTLI in the Republic of Ireland and SPUR (Special Programme for University Research) in the North, which completely transformed the face of Irish university research.
Examples on the University College Dublin campus alone include: UCD Conway Institute; UCD Institute of Criminology; Michéal O'Cleirigh Institute; Institute for British Irish Studies; UCD Geary Institute, and Chairs in American Studies; Equality Studies and Food Safety.
All the while, in keeping with his long held desire for anonymity and his sense of modesty, Feeney refused honorary degrees and asked that his name be kept off buildings funded through his charitable foundation.
Now in his mid-seventies, Feeney is determined that the remaining €4 billion in his foundation should be spent within his lifetime. “The Billionaire who wasn’t,” is a telling biography of a global champion of the “giving while living” philosophy adopted from Andrew Carnegie who has influenced Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to “give while living.”
