The Atlantic Philanthropies

In 1982 Charles Feeney established in Bermuda the foundation that would become Atlantic Philanthropies. In 1984, he transferred to the foundation his 38.75 percent stake in the company he had co-founded, Duty Free Shoppers. Since there was no sale, the company’s value was speculative, but some estimates said it may have exceeded $500 million. When he and a partner sold their interest in Duty Free Shoppers to Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy in 1997, legal filings put the value of his share at $1.6 billion and said it belonged not to Mr. Feeney but to his philanthropic entity. In December 2016, with his donation of $7 million to his alma mater, Cornell University, for student community-service work, Chuck Feeney officially emptied the Atlantic Philanthropies’ accounts.With virtually all of his fortune gone, Mr. Feeney officially shut down Atlantic Philanthropies in 2020.