Chuck Feeney: Keeping Philanthropy Anonymous

Atlantic Philanthropies will have contributed more than $7.5 billion in areas from education and aging, to human rights and healthcare, benefiting people in seven regions of the world, by the time it concludes its grant making in 2016.  So it's a staggering figure by any standard, and it reaches countless people.

It was wonderful to see Warren Buffet, billionaire philanthropist extraordinaire himself, introduce the Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award, then to hear Steven Denning, Chairman of General Atlantic, speak about the foregoing philanthropy.   

But where was Chuck Feeney himself? 

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Apparently Feeney shuns publicity, and seeks little prestige for his philanthropic efforts.  What is more, were it not for a dispute with a former business partner, Conor O'Clery may never have even conceived of the book he came to publish in 2008 - The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune.  There is something deeply admirable about a philanthropist who wishes to remain anonymous.  Of course anonymity is difficult in a highly plugged in world that we live in, but his absence at this Award ceremony a perfect thing.  

Kudos to him!