An anonymous billionaire philanthropist may seem like a contradiction in terms, except when his name is Chuck Feeney, an Irish-American from New Jersey and a truly remarkable benefactor. He has made "giving while living" his personal philosophy and has embodied that fine principle for the past 25 years.
During that time he has given away a vast fortune, several billion dollars, to those in greater need, and has sought neither private acknowledgment nor public recognition for his extraordinary altruism. For much of that time he has shrouded his many philanthropic acts in secrecy. His charitable foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, which has already dispensed $4 billion (approximately €2.94 billion) in donations to deserving causes worldwide, is likely to distribute the remaining $4 billion in the next decade, in Ireland and elsewhere, before it is wound up.
Once one of America's richest men, Mr Feeney, who owns neither house nor car, who wears a cheap plastic watch and who travels economy class, has a very simple philosophy: to use his surplus wealth for the benefit of those less fortunate. He has not just given something back to society. He has given nearly everything back. And he has done so with an obsessional zeal. This great philanthropist is also one to whom Ireland owes a particular debt of gratitude, as Conor O'Clery outlines in some detail in his new biography of him, extracts from which were published in this newspaper.
No country has benefited more from his unparalleled generosity, in funding educational and other projects on both sides of the Border, amounting to some € 735 million. In particular, his financial contributions (via Atlantic Philanthropies) in support of third-level education, most notably the University of Limerick, were of major significance in ensuring that Irish universities received substantial research funding, thereby enabling them to keep up with the world's leading research centres.
Personal wealth brings its social responsibilities and contributions from Mr Feeney and organisations such as the Ireland Fund have been of huge value. But it is important now to develop the culture of philanthropy at home, and to root it more firmly in Irish soil. We were never better placed to do so. Last February, Minister for Finance Brian Cowen noted there were now 30,000 millionaires in the country and that Irish household wealth had increased by some 350 per cent in the last decade. Mr Feeney's "giving while living" credo has set an inspiring example that others closer to home should seek to emulate, and so help turn Ireland into a donor nation, as befits our enhanced economic status.