How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune
September 1, 2007
This is a blow-by-blow biography of an unusual figure, generally unknown as a billionaire and even less so as a philanthropist. Always an entrepreneur, Chuck Feeney has gone through life seizing opportunities and doing business on the cheap, eventually founding an empire of duty-free shops around the world. By keeping his Atlantic Foundation private, Feeney was able to stay behind the scenes. By basing it offshore in the Bahamas and Bermuda, he was also able to avoid most taxes. The secrecy was broken with a Forbes article in 1988 listing Feeney as the 23rd-richest American, surprising many of his friends and colleagues, as well as business associates. Although he has continued to keep a low profile and relishes being an "anonymous" donor, he has become a philanthropic figure writ large in both the United States and abroad, yet he still flies economy class. An interesting and well-written book defining a man whom most of us have never heard of; purchase where there is interest in relation to business and philanthropy.Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. of Ohio, Oxford
Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.