US tycoon gives all Rs1332b fortune to charity

ISLAMABAD: As Irish-American business tycoon Chuk Feeney has given away all of his $8 billion (Rs1,332 billion) fortune to charity, Prime Minister Imran Khan named this act a ‘true richness.’

“This is what I call true richness - a liberated soul,” the prime minister said on twitter commenting on a media report of the former American billionaire’s achieving his mission of donating all his wealth during his life.

The philanthropy is a subject very close to the prime minister’s heart who always proudly claimed to have collected the biggest donations for the expanding Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital founded by him.

During 2019, the hospital had received around Rs7.58 billion in donations and zakat to cope with the hospital’s needs established to mainly treat poor cancer patients free of charge. “We learned a lot. We would do some things differently, but I am very satisfied. I feel very good about completing this on my watch,” Feeney tells Forbes Magazine who massively donated to charities, universities and foundations worldwide through his foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies.

In his foundation’s report, “Zero is the Hero” Feeney once said, “I see little reason to delay giving when so much good can be achieved through supporting worthwhile causes. Besides, it’s a lot more fun to give while you live than give while you’re dead.”

Feeney has lived a frugal lifestyle without owning a car or home, and having only one pair of shoes. He was known for flying only in economy class, even when members of his family and colleagues would travel in business class on the same plane.