Anonymous donor: Giving was the only goal

Chuck Feeney jumped out of the shadows recently.

But hardly anyone knew who he was because he refused to have his identity disclosed. All that changed recently. Feeney's biography was released late last month. In it, he detailed the story of his life. By doing so, he lifted the veil that covered his philanthropic career. He founded Duty Free Shops in 1965, and it was there that he made his fortune. By 1984, he gave between $500 million and $800 million to the Atlantic Foundation, a charity he started in Bermuda two years earlier (and where it was free from government disclosure). By doing so, he reportedly reduced his own fortune to $5 million. He believed charities could do the work better than government and set out improve the world by doing it. By all accounts, he did.

Feeney gave money for programs in Vietnam, South Africa and Northern Ireland. His Cornell connection comes in that he gave money for all sorts of buildings and projects through Atlantic Philanthropies but always made the university abide by the restriction that it couldn't name him as the donor. He did that for his other projects, too.

There is much to be learned from a man like Feeney, who had the means to improve the lives of people all across the world. He sought not publicity but to help the public, and that is something everyone can take to heart. It is Feeney's hope that others with great wealth will hear his story and contribute in ways to society that are unfathomable to the average person. Whether others decide to give on that level or not, Feeney deserves great credit for his life's works.

The Ithaca Journal