{"id":27401,"date":"2023-10-10T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T15:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=27401"},"modified":"2023-10-10T13:17:16","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T17:17:16","slug":"feeney-remembered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/feeney-remembered\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Chuck Feeney \u201956, Cornell’s \u2018Third Founder\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Hotelie and generous Cornell benefactor\u2014namesake of the Hill\u2019s \u2018Feeney Way\u2019\u2014has passed away at 92<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story was condensed from <\/em>a feature<\/em><\/a> in the<\/em> Cornell Chronicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Joe Wilensky<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles F. \u201cChuck\u201d Feeney \u201956, founding chairman of The Atlantic Philanthropies and Cornell University\u2019s most generous donor, died October 9 in San Francisco. He was 92.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeney, who quietly devoted his fortune to worldwide causes for decades, invested nearly $1 billion in Cornell through the foundation since 1982. The late President Frank H.T. Rhodes referred to him as Cornell\u2019s \u201cthird founder\u201d\u2014behind only Ezra Cornell and the University\u2019s first president, Andrew Dickson White, in the magnitude of his influence and impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
East Avenue was renamed in Feeney\u2019s honor in 2021. (Lindsay France \/ Cornell University)<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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However, for more than two decades, Feeney\u2019s giving through The Atlantic Philanthropies was completely anonymous\u2014neither his name nor Atlantic\u2019s appeared on any University building, professorship, or program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even after he was thrust into the limelight when his association with Atlantic became public, he resisted any memorials to his giving, preferring instead for the focus to be on the beneficiaries of his support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, Cornell renamed East Avenue on the Ithaca campus \u201cFeeney Way<\/a>\u201d in honor of his 90th birthday, to recognize his impact on the University, and as an inspiration to future generations of Cornellians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Feeney,
Attending Hotel Ezra Cornell in 1989. (Rare and Manuscript Collections)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A second \u201cFeeney Way\u201d<\/a> will be named on a central thoroughfare on the Cornell Tech campus in New York City, Cornell announced earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChuck Feeney, in his life and in his lasting legacy, set an inspirational standard of what it means to be a Cornellian,\u201d says President Martha E. Pollack. \u201cHis life\u2019s mission of consequential philanthropy, the breathtaking impact of his giving to his alma mater, and the way his quiet example has motivated so many others, has been immeasurably transformative to Cornell and to Cornellians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chuck Feeney, in his life and in his lasting legacy, set an inspirational standard of what it means to be a Cornellian.<\/p>\nPresident Martha E. Pollack<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Among the highlights of The Atlantic Philanthropies\u2019 impact on Cornell are the record-setting $350 million grant (initially made anonymously) that funded much of the construction and program development for the first phase of the Cornell Tech campus; the creation of the Cornell Tradition (see below), which awards fellowships to outstanding undergraduates; and support that touched nearly every corner of Cornell\u2014transforming undergrad residential life, increasing access to financial aid, and revitalizing the sciences, humanities, and social sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond Cornell, Feeney and The Atlantic Philanthropies gave $7 billion over three decades, dramatically advancing global education, health, research and innovation, human rights, and peacemaking efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Cornell Tradition<\/strong>: A Feeney Legacy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Atlantic\u2019s first investment in Cornell was an anonymous $7 million grant in 1982 to establish The Cornell Tradition<\/a>, an undergraduate fellowship program combining work, service, and scholarship opportunities to instill a strong work ethic in civic-minded students. The foundation subsequently gave nearly $41 million to the program\u2014supporting more than 6,000 students and, through student loan relief, enabling many to pursue careers in public service. Symbolically coming full circle, one of Atlantic\u2019s final official grants to Cornell was another $7 million to build the program\u2019s endowment in 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cChuck Feeney was a cherished Cornellian whose impact is immeasurable,\u201d says Kraig Kayser, MBA \u201984, chair of the Board of Trustees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis philanthropic support across many campus priorities\u2014including the founding gift for Cornell Tech\u2014will be felt for generations. He traced his visionary commitment to \u2018giving while living\u2019 to Cornell\u2019s \u2018\u2026 any person \u2026 any study\u2019 principles, and just as Cornell\u2019s ethos was foundational to Chuck, he became foundational to Cornell. The entire community sends its condolences to his family, as he will be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles Francis Feeney was born April 23, 1931, into a working-class, Irish-American immigrant family in Elizabeth, NJ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He enrolled in the School of Hotel Administration\u2014now the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration\u2014in 1952 with support from the G.I. Bill. He was the first in his family to go to college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His entrepreneurial drive was apparent immediately: he famously created a sandwich business at Cornell that became so profitable his freshman classmates dubbed him \u201cthe sandwich man.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduation, Feeney traveled to Europe, enrolled in a graduate program in political science at the Universit\u00e9 Grenoble in France, and started a summer camp for children of American military personnel.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Feeney\u2019s
In the 1956 yearbook. (Rare and Manuscript Collections)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In 1960, Feeney and fellow Hotelie Robert Miller \u201955 co-founded Duty Free Shoppers\u2014at first selling to sailors serving with the U.S. Navy\u2019s Atlantic fleet, then at Honolulu International Airport, and subsequently expanding to airports in Europe, Hong Kong, and beyond. Duty Free Shoppers soon became the largest seller of luxury goods in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1984, Feeney secretly gave away nearly all his fortune by transferring the vast majority of his stake in Duty Free Shoppers (estimated at more than $500 million at the time) to create and establish The Atlantic Philanthropies, reducing his own wealth to less than $5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Just as Cornell\u2019s ethos was foundational to Chuck, he became foundational to Cornell.<\/p>\nKraig Kayser, MBA \u201984<\/strong>, Board of Trustees chair<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In its early years, Atlantic directed much of its giving to higher education; it later refined its areas of focus, identifying four key priorities: aging; children and youth; population health; and reconciliation and human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeney insisted on anonymity for the foundation\u2019s donations and his involvement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to his authorized biography, The Billionaire Who Wasn\u2019t: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune<\/em> (2007) by Conor O\u2019Clery, this was partly due to modesty, and partly out of concern that giving publicly and generously to an organization might discourage others from giving to the same organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/div><\/div>
\"From
In 1987 with then-President Frank H.T. Rhodes (center) and Ed Walsh (far right), founding president of Ireland\u2019s University of Limerick. (Provided)<\/em>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Feeney
With the Cornell Hotel Association (seated, far right). (Rare and Manuscript Collections)<\/em>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Chuck
Onstage with President David Skorton at the 2011 Olin Lecture. (Cornell University)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Chuck
Receiving SHA’s Icon of the Industry Award in 2010. (Lindsay France \/ Cornell University)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"From
With dignitaries including then-NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (far left) at a 2012 press conference about Cornell Tech. (Lindsay France \/ Cornell University)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Feeney
Feeney and his legacy are honored on signage at the intersection of his namesake way and Tower Road. (Jason Koski \/ Cornell University)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
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A member of what Rhodes often referred to as the \u201cSuper Class of 1956<\/a>\u201d for its record-breaking philanthropy and service, Feeney was long known for being shy and modest, flying coach, wearing $15 watches and sweaters with holes, and not owning a home or tuxedo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t until the 1997 sale of Duty Free Shoppers that Feeney became known as the philanthropist behind The Atlantic Philanthropies and its many billions of dollars in giving over the years, and for his tremendous impact on Cornell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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