Chuck Feeney Biography
Chuck Feeney (Charles Francis “Chuck” Feeney) is an Irish American businessman, philanthropist, and founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies born on 23rd April 1931, which is one of the largest private foundations in the world. He is best for his frugality, in living in a rented apartment, not owning a car or a house, and flying economy class.
10 Quick Facts About Chuck Feeney
- Name: Charles Francis “Chuck” Feeney
- Age: 92 years
- Birthday: April 23
- Birth sign: Taurus
- Height: 5 feet 7 inches
- Occupation: Businessman, philanthropist, and founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies
- Nationality: Irish-American
- Marital Status: Married
- Salary: Under Review
- Net Worth: $1 Million – $50 Million
Chuck Feeney Age
Chuck Feeney is 91 years as of 2021. He was born on April 23, 1931, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S. Feeney celebrates his birthday on April 23rd every year. His birth sign is Taurus.
Chuck Feeney Height
Feeney stands at a height of 5 feet 7 inches or 1.74 meters.
Chuck Feeney Weight
Feeney’s height including other body measurements is not available at the moment. We will update this section as soon as we get the information.
Chuck Feeney Education
Feeney graduated from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. He was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi and an honorary member of the Sphinx Head Society.
Chuck Feeney Family
Feeney was born to Leo Feeney (father) and Madaline Feeney (mother). He was raised in New Jersey with his two sisters Ursula Healy and Arlene Fitzpatrick.
Chuck Feeney Wife
Feeney married his first wife Danielle with whom he had four children. He later married another wife Helga Feeney who is a former Secretary.
Chuck Feeney Children
Feeney has four children Juliette M. Feeney, Timsit Feeney, Caroleen A. Feeney, Diane V. Feeney, Leslie D. Feeney Baily, and one son Patrick A. Feeney.
Chuck Feeney Net worth
Feeney has an estimated net worth of $1.5 million. This includes his assets, money, and income. His primary source of income is his career as a businessman. Through his various sources of income, Kim has been able to accumulate a good fortune but prefers to lead a modest lifestyle.
Chuck Feeney Measurements and Facts
Here are some interesting facts and body measurements you should know about Feeney
Chuck Feeney Wiki
- Full Names: Charles Francis “Chuck” Feeney
- Popular As: chuck
- Gender: Female
- Occupation / Profession: Businessman, philanthropist, and founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies
- Nationality: American
- Race / Ethnicity: White
- Religion: Not Known
- Sexual Orientation: Straight
Chuck Feeney Birthday
- Age / How Old?: 92 years (2022)
- Zodiac Sign: Taurus
- Date of Birth: April 23, 1931
- Place of Birth: Elizabeth
- Birthday: 11 July
Chuck Feeney Body Measurements
- Body Measurements: Not Available
- Height / How Tall?: 5 feet 7 inches or 1.74 meters.
- Weight: Moderate
- Eye Color: Blue
- Hair Color: Gray Blonde
- Shoe Size: Not Available
Chuck Feeney Family and Relationship
- Father (Dad): Leo Feeney
- Mother: Madaline Feeney
- Siblings (Brothers and Sisters): Two
- Marital Status: Married
- Wife/Spouse: Not Available
- Children: Six children
Feeney Net Worth and Salary
- Net Worth: $1.5 Thousand
- Salary: Under Review
- Source of Income:
Chuck Feeney Businessman
Chuck Feeney, started investing after his high school education. He served as a U.S. Air Force radio operator during the Korean War and began his career selling duty-free liquor to US naval personnel at Mediterranean ports in the 1950s.
He founded the Atlantic Philanthropies, which is one of the largest private foundations in the world. He made his fortune as a co-founder of the Duty-Free Shoppers Group, which pioneered the concept of duty-free shopping. Feeney gave away his fortune in secret for many years, until a business dispute resulted in his identity being revealed in 1997. In his life, he donated away more than $8 million.
Chuck Feeney Duty-Free Shoppers
Chuck Feeney has another concept of improving “duty-free shopping” that lead to high offering and high-end concessions to travelers, and even free import taxes in its infancy, his college classmate Robert Warren Miller started selling duty-free liquor to American servicemen in Asia in the 1950s.
This organization expanded the selling of cars and tobacco and founded the Duty-Free Shoppers Group (DFS Group) on November 7, 1960. The DFS began its operations in Hong Kong, it was later expanded to Europe and other continents. DFS’ first major breakthrough came in the early 1960s, when it secured the exclusive concession for duty-free sales in Hawaii, allowing it to market its products to Japanese travelers.
Eventually, the DFS was expanded off the airport and to get duty-free stores and large downtown Galleria stores, and became the world’s largest travel retailer. By the mid-1990s, DFS was distributing profits of up to $300 million a year to Feeney, Miller, and two smaller partners. “The rich returns came about in large part because DFS, like most other retailers in Asia, took a far higher markup on Western luxury items than was the case in Europe and the U.S.
In New York, a retailer might price a designer handbag at 2.2 or 2.3 times the wholesale price. But in Asia, the retail price was a standard three times wholesale.” In 1996, he and his partner sold their stakes in DFS to the French luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH).
Miller opposed the sale, and before a presumptive lawsuit could reveal that Feeney’s stake was owned not in fact by him but by The Atlantic Philanthropies, Feeney outed himself in a New York Times article written by Judith Miller. The Atlantic made an amount of $1.63 billion from its sale.
Chuck Feeney Philanthropy
In 1982 Chuck Feeney created The Atlantic Philanthropies, and in 1984, he secretly transferred his entire 38.75% stake in DFS, then worth about $500 million, to the foundation. Not even his business partners knew that he no longer personally owned any part of DFS. For years, Atlantic gave away money in secret, requiring recipients to not reveal the sources of their donations.
“Beyond Mr. Feeney’s reticence about blowing his own horn, ‘it was also a way to leverage more donations some other individual might contribute to getting the naming rights.'” The largest single beneficiary of his giving is his alma mater Cornell University, which has received nearly $1 billion in direct and Atlantic gifts, including a donation of $350 million enabling the creation of Cornell’s New York City Tech Campus.
Through Atlantic, he donated around $1 billion to education in Ireland, mostly to third-level institutions such as the University of Limerick and Dublin City University. He has given substantial personal donations to Sinn Féin, a left-wing Irish nationalist party that is historically associated with the IRA, and has worked to support peace efforts in Ireland. He has also supported the modernization of public-health structures in Vietnam.
In February 2011, he became a signatory to The Giving Pledge. In his letter to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the founders of The Giving Pledge, he writes, “I cannot think of a more personally rewarding and appropriate use of wealth than to give while one is living to personally devote oneself to meaningful efforts to improve the human condition.
Chuck Feeney Accolades
Chuck Feeney has been called the “James Bond of philanthropy”, because of his secrecy and success. In 1997, his beneficiary has ranked among the grandest of any living American.” He has shunned publicity, although he cooperated in his 2007 biography, The Billionaire Who Wasn’t: How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing.
He is also the subject of a documentary by RTÉ Factual, titled Secret Billionaire: The Chuck Feeney Story. In 2010 he received the Cornell Icon of Industry Award. In 2012, all the universities in Ireland, North, and South, jointly conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Laws on Feeney.
During the year, he received Ireland’s “Presidential Distinguished Service Award” for Irish Abroad.In 2012, he was awarded the UCSF Medal for his outstanding contributions by the University of California, San Francisco’s health science mission. In 2014, Warren Buffett said of Feeney, ” is my hero and Bill Gates’ hero. He should be everybody’s hero.
Chuck Feeney Quotes
- It’s the intelligent thing to be frugal.
- I happen to enjoy grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches.
- I believe strongly in ‘giving while living.’ I see little reason to delay giving when so much good can be achieved through supporting worthwhile causes today. Besides, it’s a lot more fun to give while you live than to give while you are dead.
- People used to ask me how I got my jollies, and I guess I’m happy when what I’m doing is helping people and unhappy when what I’m doing isn’t helping people.
- I don’t dislike money, but there’s only so much money you can use.
- I want the last cheque I write to bounce.
- I was raised as a Catholic, but I got up to go to church because I thought I’d be hit by a bolt of lightning if I didn’t.
- I believe that people of substantial wealth potentially create problems for future generations unless they themselves accept responsibility to use their wealth during their lifetime to help worthwhile causes.
- When you’ve got the money, you spend it. When you’ve spent it all, let someone else get going and spend theirs.
Frequently Asked Questions About Chuck Feeney
Chuck Feeney (Charles Francis “Chuck” Feeney) is an Irish American businessman, philanthropist, and founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies born on 23rd April 1931, which is one of the largest private foundations in the world. He is best for his frugality, in living in a rented apartment, not owning a car or a house, and flying economy class.
Chuck Feeney is 92 years as of 2022. He was born on April 23, 1931, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S
Feeney stands at a height of 5 feet 7 inches or 1.74 meters.
Feeney married his first wife Danielle with whom he had four children. He later married another wife Helga Feeney who is a former Secretary.
Feeney has an estimated net worth of $1.5 million. This includes his assets, money, and income. His primary source of income is his career as a businessman. Through his various sources of income, Kim has been able to accumulate a good fortune but prefers to lead a modest lifestyle.
Because of security reasons, he has not shared his precise location of residence. We will update this information if we get the location and images of his house.
Feeney’ is alive and in good health. There have been no reports of her being sick or having any health-related issues.
Feeney is still alive and very much active in the business.
Chuck Feeney Contacts
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