It took decades, but this week , 89 year old Chuck Feeney, the former billionaire cofounder of retail giant Duty Free Shoppers has finally given all his money away ($8b) to charity. He has nothing left now—and he couldn’t be happier.
This week Chuck and his wife Helga signed the documents marking the end of Atlantic Philanthropies in a Zoom ceremony on Monday after 40 years of giving.
He said he was very happy with giving away his entire fortune, over $8b, on various donations “on my watch.”
Chuck Feeney is the James Bond of philanthropy. Over the last 40 years he’s crisscrossed the globe conducting a clandestine operation to give away an $8 billion fortune derived from hawking cognac, perfume and cigarettes in his empire of duty-free shops.
His foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies, has funneled billions into education, science, health care, aging and civil rights in the U.S., Australia, Vietnam, Bermuda, South Africa and Ireland.
Chuck’s story
Chuck Feeney was born into a modest blue-collar family in New Jersey in 1931. His parents were Irish-American.
While young and poor, he read Andrew Carnegie’s classic essay, “The Gospel of Wealth”.
Andrew Carnegie’s essay was a revolutionary call for those who create wealth to live modestly, and to give all their excess wealth to support others while still alive: “Giving while living.”
Chuck decided at that moment that he would dedicate his life to create wealth to give away, saying “I want the last cheque I write to bounce.”
He founded the Duty Free Shoppers Group in 1960 with his college classmate Robert Warren Miller - after arranging for soldiers to buy duty free at ports that they were stationed at. This led to the concept of duty-free shopping in airports.
Ever bought anything from a DFS shop at an airport? That’s Chuck’s company.
Duty Free Shoppers became one of the most successful retailers that was sold in 1982 - and since then his mission has been to give it all away before he dies - and at 89 and in poor health - Chuck and his wife has achieved their goal!
What makes Chuck happy
Chuck has lived a very frugal lifestyle. Today, at 89years old he does not own a home or a car. He still famously wears a watch he bought for $15, and he carries his papers in a plastic bag.
Chuck says “I always tried to live my life as though nothing changed. People would say, 'You can have a Rolls-Royce'. I'd say to that, 'What do I want with a Rolls-Royce when I can have a bike?’"
Instead of measuring his success by his level of money in the bank, he measures it by his level of happiness: “I'm happy when I’m helping people and unhappy when what I'm doing isn't helping people.”
Chuck has donated over $8b anonymously to charities and causes around the world .
“Giving it away and making a difference while I’m alive is more satisfying than when I am dead....”
He is also a role model to fellow billionaire Warren Buffett and Bill Gates - who has followed his footsteps in pledging
What makes him happy is to “improve the lives of our fellow humans”
Some of his Donations
Feeney has donated to thousands of causes over his lifetime most of which have been anonymous.
Here are some particularly important ones that have been disclosed.
He is credited with funding peace efforts in Northern Ireland, sent huge donations to Vietnam which were used to bring their public health system to a modern standard, and gave hundreds of millions (in some cases billions) to universities including Cornell. Hundreds of millions of dollars that Cornell received were used to revitalize Roosevelt Island in New York City and create the Cornell NYC Tech Campus on the island.
Chuck Feeney’s legacy
Chucks story has inspired Bill Gates to also give all his money away, and to launch the Giving Pledge, which now has 142 of the World’s Billionaires pledging to give the majority of their wealth away while alive - including Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Warren Buffett and many more.
Bill Gates credits Chuck for the new age of giving, saying “Chuck Feeney is a remarkable role model, and the ultimate example of giving while living.”
Laurene Powell Jobs told Forbes. “Spending down his resources during his lifetime has inspired a generation of philanthropists, including me. And his dedication to anonymous giving — and focus on addressing the problems of the day — reflect the strength of his character and social conscience. We all follow in his footsteps.”
“How would you feel if everything you make will be given away to a cause far bigger than yourself? And you commit to contribute the money you are yet to make?”
Feeney’s legacy has been to show people the benefits of “giving while living” and enjoying seeing the fruits of his investment play out, which certainly seems like a better approach than hanging onto all of it until death and then leaving a foundation for the children to fight about where the money will eventually end up.
“To those wondering about Giving While Living” says Chuck “Try it, you’ll like it.”
