No pockets in a shroud

October 10, 2023 4:57 AM

Philanthropist Chuck Feeney died, in the fullness of his 91 years, on 9th October 2023. He made his fortune in the early days of Duty Free: selling cheap booze and pricey handbags. He established Atlantic Philanthropies in 1982 as a vehicle for dissipating his wealth and made his donations anonymously until outed in 1997. Anonymous donation allowed his contribution to be leveraged in matching funds from donors who wanted their name on the building. €138million funding of the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) in 2015 was the biggest philanthropic donation in Irish history. Secret Billionaire: The Chuck Feeney Story [57m RTE documentary]. Meta2021Prev when I flagged his support for the dispossessed. and Meta2020Prev.
posted by BobTheScientist (18 comments total)

Cf his business partner Robert Miller
posted by BWA at 5:09 AM on October 10, 2023

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posted by foleypt at 5:40 AM on October 10, 2023

He did voluntarily what I wish we would do via regulation with all billionaires. You can accumulate it, you can enjoy it, but then the fortune should be returned to the world rather than locked away in a single family for generations.

Good for him for living his principles and doing so in a way that didn't put himself in the spotlight.

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posted by Dip Flash at 5:51 AM on October 10, 2023 [20 favorites]

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posted by Navelgazer at 7:26 AM on October 10, 2023

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posted by mersen at 7:47 AM on October 10, 2023

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posted by brundlefly at 7:58 AM on October 10, 2023

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posted by clavdivs at 8:23 AM on October 10, 2023

(Did anyone else read this as Chuck Finley and get confused? Just me, then?)
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:19 AM on October 10, 2023

I drive several times a week on the main street that Cornell recently renamed in his honor.

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posted by aught at 9:32 AM on October 10, 2023

A mensch

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posted by 43rdAnd9th at 9:42 AM on October 10, 2023

Mod note: One comment deleted. Let's avoid centring a thread around the US by saying "on the topic of this Irish-American businessperson, let's talk about this American instead"
posted by loup (staff) at 9:52 AM on October 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

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posted by adekllny at 11:31 AM on October 10, 2023

(Atlantic spent a *lot* of money in Ireland, and has at this point left exactly fuck all to show for it. It's sadly almost the canonical case study of how to make basically zero positive long-term impact by opening a "don't call us we'll call you" donor org and then staffing it exclusively with people with absolutely no idea what they're doing. I do appreciate that he tried, though.)
posted by genghis at 12:21 PM on October 10, 2023

Atlantic spent a *lot* of money in Ireland, and has at this point left exactly fuck all to show for it.

Can't fathom how you arrived at that.
posted by 3.2.3 at 1:20 PM on October 10, 2023

The institute where I worked as a research biomathematician for almost 20 years, the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, was started with a very large donation from Chuck Feeney. It's now a leading research centre in the biological sciences in Australia, as are several other bioresearch institutes his donations helped establish here. His donations, together with he state government, have made a huge difference in Queensland and helped put it on the map in research in the biosciences.

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posted by drnick at 1:46 PM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

It's nice that this rich person tried to do some good with the surplus value he appropriated from his workers. It would be nicer if the workers themselves had been able to decide what to do with it, or maybe the government via taxes, but it's better than him just giving it to his kids.
posted by signal at 4:44 PM on October 10, 2023 [6 favorites]

People shouldn't be allowed to accumulate billions. How long until we see the first trillionaire, probably within the next 10 years because the race is on. We need to get back to the 90% tax rates to disincentivize this vulgar accumulation of wealth and when these billionaires want to give it away they should be forced to give it back to society and let the people decide where the money should go otherwise they are just de facto kings.
posted by any major dude at 5:30 PM on October 10, 2023 [7 favorites]

> Can't fathom how you arrived at that.

Because the foundation stated that it had social goals for change, not just efforts in adding buildings to universities. And in Ireland not one single donation in terms of social progress has led to any long-term (or even medium-term) outcome for any organisation of any kind. There's just a big long trail of six-and-seven-digit donations that were objectively just spaffed up the wall.
posted by genghis at 12:02 PM on October 11, 2023 [1 favorite]