The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing

370 Pages·2007·2.69 MB·English

by  Conor O'Clery

Table of Contents

Praise
ALSO BY CONOR O’CLERY
Title Page
Acknowledgements
PROLOGUE

PART ONE - MAKING IT
CHAPTER 1 - The Umbrella Boy
CHAPTER 2 - The Sandwich Man
CHAPTER 3 - Banging the Ring
CHAPTER 4 - Cockamamy Flyers
CHAPTER 5 - Riding the Tiger
CHAPTER 6 - The Perfect Storm
CHAPTER 7 - The Sandwich Islands
CHAPTER 8 - Hong Kong Crocodiles
CHAPTER 9 - Surrounding Japan

PART TWO - GOING UNDERGROUND
CHAPTER 10 - How Much Is Rich?
CHAPTER 11 - Boremuda
CHAPTER 12 - Four Guys in a Room
CHAPTER 13 - Rich Man, Poor Man
CHAPTER 14 - Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
CHAPTER 15 - The Luck of the Irish
CHAPTER 16 - Leaving Money on the Table
CHAPTER 17 - Rich, Ruthless, and Determined
CHAPTER 18 - The Wise Man Cometh
CHAPTER 19 - Stepping Down
CHAPTER 20 - Show Me the Building
CHAPTER 21 - Four Guys in a Coffee Shop
PART THREE - BREAKING UP
CHAPTER 22 - The French Connection
CHAPTER 23 - Musical Chairs
CHAPTER 24 - Cutting the Baby in Half
CHAPTER 25 - Erreur Stratégique

PART FOUR - GIVING IT AWAY
CHAPTER 26 - “A Great Op.”
CHAPTER 27 - Golden Heart
CHAPTER 28 - Bowerbird
CHAPTER 29 - A Nation Transformed
CHAPTER 30 - Charity Begins at Home
CHAPTER 31 - Geographical Creep
CHAPTER 32 - The Old Turks
CHAPTER 33 - No Pockets in a Shroud
CHAPTER 34 - Not a Moment to Lose

Epilogue
INDEX
Copyright Page
Praise for The Billionaire Who Wasn’t
“Chuck Feeney’s success in business, coupled with his commitment to
philanthropy, stands as living proof that it is possible to do well and do good at
the same time.”—Bill Clinton

“You may never read a book as uplifting as Conor O’Clery’s The Billionaire
Who Wasn’t: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune. In
vivid, unvarnished prose, The Billionaire Who Wasn’t recounts Feeney’s
meteoric rise from blue-collar beginnings in Elizabeth, N.J., to a perch as one of
America’s titans of commerce, head of Duty Free Shoppers, the largest liquor
retailer in the world.”—Washington Post’s Express

“A rollicking story of how, by stealth, an Irish American obsessed by secrecy
built a business empire and revolutionised philanthropy.”
—The Economist, best books of 2007

“An engrossing look at an unusual, influential philanthropist. . . . A superbly
written, detailed look at Chuck Feeney, who gave away billions. Reads like
fiction.”—BusinessWeek, top ten business books, 2007

“The riveting story of a billionaire who gave it all away disturbs deeply rooted
assumptions about wealth and power. . . . What makes him so fascinating, and
gives such richness to O’Clery’s brilliantly engrossing account, is that Feeney
both embodies and rebukes the American Dream. O’Clery turns his prodigious
research and mastery of sometimes intricate detail into a tight, pacey, crystal-
clear narrative. . . . An epic tale.”
—Irish Times

“An interesting and well-written book defining a man whom most of us have
never heard of.”—Library Journal
“If [Conor O’Clery’s] compelling narrative becomes a blue-print for future
efforts to record the life stories of philanthropists, then the reading public might
become far more aware of the major donors who have existed in their midst.
O’Clery’s account of how Charles ‘Chuck’ Feeney rose from a blue-collar New
Jersey neighbourhood to immense riches as founder of global retail enterprise
Duty Free Shoppers, and then gave almost every cent away, reads like a cross
between a whodunnit and an airport business guru book.”—Philanthropy UK

“Dublin-based journalist O’Clery presents an archetypal American success story,
a rags-to-riches account with a twist. . . . A smart business book detailing some
vicissitudes of retailing, wrapped in a vivid biography of an engaging
tycoon.”—Kirkus Reviews

“For America’s new generation of Internet and private equity billionaires, this is
an exemplary tale.”—FT.com

“A gripping read.”—Sunday Business Post
ALSO BY CONOR O’CLERY
Phrases Make History Here (1986)
Melting Snow: An Irishman in Moscow (1991)
America, A Place Called Hope? (1993)
Daring Diplomacy (1997; published in Ireland
as The Greening of the White House)
Ireland in Quotes (1999)
Panic at the Bank (coauthor, 2004)