Chucking it all away...

... for the greater good. 
Yesterday, 9th October, Chuck Feeney died in San Francisco aged 92. Like most people in Ireland I knew nothing of him. 
I did recall a little plaque appearing in the lobby of our nicer (newest) building in the Repair Factory. I remember reading a name and a few key words - businessman, philanthropist, investment - I rapidly decided, cynic that I am, that this must have been about a tax dodge from a big corporation trying to look good or a PR exercise less costly than buying mega advertising campaigns in the mass media. 
I did not realise at the time that Chuck Feeney could very well be the single individual whose personal action has had the greatest impact in Ireland in the last forty years (he donated nearly $2,000,000,000 in funding for Irish causes, out of the eight billion dollars that he gave away in his lifetime) 
Chuck Feeney was a multibillionaire. A very strange multibillionaire. He was first and foremost a good man. 
This is such a rare occurrence, considering that being a good man seriously limits your chance of making it into a very very very small club of mostly ruthless, blindly selfish, power-hungry sociopathic scumbags. 
Chuck Feeney is someone who occasionally quoted the Irish saying 'there are no pockets in a shroud'.  Journalist Jim Dwyer of the New York Times characterised him as what Donald Trump would be if he lived his entire existence backward.
There is a long, fascinating obituary published in the Irish Times today (can't link it here as it is a Subscriber-Only article). I am glad that I can now say that I know of Chuck Feeney. And he was a good man. I'll always have a little thought for him as I walk past the little plaque (that he would not have approved of) in the Repair Factory. 
I know that he wasn't orchestrating a tax dodge - or getting good PR on the cheap. 
He was a good man who had vision and principles. And money to chuck at good causes on five continents. 


Here is an older article from 2020 that should be accessible without restriction, if you want to find out a bit more about this most unusual billionaire.