The late Charles F. “Chuck” Feeney ’56 made his name as the cofounder of Duty Free Shoppers but for decades kept his identity as a philanthropist a secret while giving billions to his alma mater and institutions around the world.
Shedding light on this enigmatic figure who came to be Cornell’s most generous donor, the exhibition Giving While Living: The Legacy of Chuck Feeney at Cornell and Beyond opens Feb. 5 in the rotunda of Carl A. Kroch Library.
The exhibition features photographs, documents and other materials from Feeney’s personal papers and the archives of the Atlantic Philanthropies – a charitable foundation established by Feeney in 1982 – which were all donated to Cornell University Library’s Rare and Manuscript Collections.
The exhibition chronicles Feeney’s entrepreneurism: his childhood in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he knocked on neighbors’ doors to sell Christmas cards and shovel driveways; his undergraduate days at Cornell, where he supplemented his G.I. Bill scholarship by selling sandwiches to his classmates in what is now the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration; and his business partnership with fellow Cornellian Robert Miller ’56, a co-founder of global retailer Duty Free Shoppers.
The exhibition highlights the work of Atlantic Philanthropies, which ceased operations in 2020 after completing its mission of fully expending the foundation’s assets during Feeney’s lifetime. Donations totaled $8 billion in support of educational institutions and nonprofit organizations across the United States, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Vietnam, Australia, Bermuda and Cuba. These donations include nearly $1 billion to Cornell – ranging from Atlantic’s first grant in 1982 establishing the Cornell Tradition program, to the $350 million grant in 2011 to fund the first phase of construction and program development for Cornell Tech, the foundation’s largest-ever grant.
Apart from showcasing Feeney’s work through his foundation, the exhibition also features his personal advocacy that helped bring about the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland in 1998, ending the decades-long violent conflicts known as the “Troubles.”
“Chuck Feeney joined a delegation of prominent Irish Americans that included U.S. Congressman Bruce Morrison, among others, who created a discreet, diplomatic backchannel to get the different conflicting Irish groups in communication with each other, as well as to secure American support for the peace process,” said Phoebe Kowalewski, special projects processing and Atlantic Philanthropies archivist, who curated the exhibition.
“There is this idea of philanthropists just sitting in their offices writing checks, removed from the people they are helping, but here was Chuck Feeney, actively involved, watching the news and being touched by what’s happening in the birthplace of his grandparents,” she said.
Giving While Living: The Legacy of Chuck Feeney at Cornell and Beyond runs through March 24. On Feb. 5 at 4 p.m., Elaine Westbrooks, Carl A. Kroch University Librarian, will deliver opening remarks, followed by a tour of the exhibition and a reception.
This story also appeared in the Cornell Chronicle.
