Irish-American businessman and philanthropist Charles Francis ‘Chuck’ Feeney has died at the age of 92, it has been announced.
Over the course of his career, Mr Feeney provided more than 6,000 grants and donations worth an estimated $8bn (€7.56bn) to various causes across the world.
In Ireland, he is believed to have provided more than €1.8bn to a host of different projects and initiatives.
Through his philanthropic vehicle Atlantic Philanthropies, established in 1982, he provided:
- Grant aid worth $181.5m to the University of Limerick Foundation;
- Grant aid worth $162.1m to the Trinity Foundation;
- Grant aid worth $128.2m to the Dublin City University Education Trust;
- Grant aid worth $91.2m to the Cork University Foundation;
- Grant aid worth $79.5m to the Galway University Foundation.
He also provided $15.6m to children’s charity Barnardos and $10.4m to the Irish Hospice Foundation.
Atlantic Philanthropies confirmed on Monday that Mr Feeney had passed away in his home in San Francisco.
“Chuck was as passionate about making a positive difference in the lives of others as he was about being successful at business,” said the organisation’s president and CEO, Christopher Oechsli.
“In philanthropy, that meant being present and engaged in an unassuming manner with the people and their work who, with his support, could improve the lives of others in meaningful and lasting ways.”
Among those to pay tribute to Mr Feeney was University of Limerick president Professor Kerstin Mey, who said he left “an extraordinary legacy”.
“I am sure I speak on behalf of the entire University of Limerick community past and present in expressing our sorrow at the loss of one of the most giving of men in Chuck Feeney,” she said.
“I want to offer my sympathy on behalf of the institution to his family and to celebrate a truly extraordinary legacy that he leaves behind as an inspiration to all.”
Prof Mey said the funds he had gifted to UL had been “transformational to the campus, the city, and wider region”.
She said he had been the catalyst behind the establishment of the University of Limerick Foundation in 1989, of which he was a long-time member.
Earlier this year, the main thoroughfare through the UL campus was named ‘Feeney Way’, in honour of the Irish-American businessman’s practice of “giving while living” — a slogan he used frequently.
“We wanted to acknowledge Chuck with the Feeney Way dedication; for one, because we are hugely appreciative for what he has done for UL, this region and for Ireland and this was ultimately where his ‘giving while living’ started,” said Prof Mey.
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