Chuck Feeney achieved his vision of being a billionaire, but he didn't stop there; he also set a target for himself to donate his whole multi-billion dollar assets while he was still alive. The 89-year-old American businessman has now accomplished this, donating almost $9 billion (£7 billion) globally.
Mr Feeney, who was raised by Irish-American parents, donated $570 million (£447 million) to issues in Northern Ireland over four decades via his private fund, the Atlantic Philanthropies. During the Great Depression, Charles F Feeney was conceived in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1931. His mother worked as a nurse in a hospital, and his father worked as an underwriter for an insurance company.
The philanthropist can track his ancestors back to County Fermanagh, where his grandmother grew up in the village of Kinawley. Chuck Feeney produced Duty Free Shoppers from his goods-selling company for US troops in Europe. The businessman made his money by selling high-end duty-free products to travelers all over the world.
"He read and was very fascinated by Carnegie's popular essay 'Wealth,' which mentions such things as 'to die rich is to die disgraced,'" according to Conor O'Clery, who wrote a biography of Mr Feeney. In 1982, he founded the Atlantic Philanthropies, an international organization dedicated to distributing his wealth to worthy causes and projects around the world.
Health, education, reconciliation, and human rights are the foundation's core areas of concern. Chuck Feeney gave money to Australia, Cuba, and the Republic of Ireland, among other places. Mr Feeney was nicknamed the James Bond of philanthropy because he made donations in secret for the first 15 years of his philanthropic work.
Mr O'Clery claims that money has been left to his five children (four daughters and one son) by their mother, Mr Feeney's first wife. He and his wife Helga currently live in a two-bedroom apartment in San Francisco after traveling widely to research projects to contribute to. From 1993 to 2015, Queens University Belfast (QUB) was one of the largest recipients of Mr Feeney's grants, receiving a total of $132 million (£83 million).
It also got the largest single donation from Atlantic Philanthropies, which offered it $24 million (£15 million) in 2012. It was for the Institute of Health Sciences Centre for Experimental Medicine at the university.Mr Feeny's largest NI grant was for experimental medicine studies. The grants, according to Queen's University's Nathalie Trott, have "changed the lives" of students and provided the university with "state-of-the-art facilities."
"The Atlantic Philanthropies' gates in Belfast may have shut, but Chuck Feeney's legacy will live on for centuries." Mr Feeney's philanthropy in Northern Ireland has also emphasized the importance of integrated education in the pursuit of reconciliation and peace. Rowandale Integrated Primary School in Moira was one of the schools that received hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Down through the decades, it is understood about £8m has been gifted to the Integrated Education Fund for various projects and the area is listed as the first sector funded in NI by the Atlantic Philanthropies back in 1991. Principal Frances Hughes stated that Rowandale would not be in existence by now without Atlantic Philanthropies' help and support. "In 2007, when the school opened, enrolment began with 18 children and this year we have an enrolment of over 300," she said.
