Oil, real estate, Microsoft — the usual sources of American wealth are represented in the Philanthropy 50, the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual countdown of the country’s most generous rich people. But some of the money comes from sources it’s hard to believe were all that lucrative. Fiji Water? Dexter Shoes? Newspapers?
Yep, once upon a time newspapers were cash cows — and the Tribune Company was one of the biggest in the herd. The media conglomerate, whose properties include the Chicago Tribune, the Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, is now in Chapter 11. But over the last century, the descendants of the original owners amassed a nice nest egg.
That’s how the late Dorothy Clarke Patterson of Sarasota wound up at #10 on the Philanthropy 50 list. Her husband James, vice president and assistant managing editor of the New York Daily News, was the son of one of the Tribune Company’s owners, and most of the money in her $255-million bequest to the Patterson Foundation came from Tribune stock, reports the Chronicle.
No word yet on how all that money is going to be spent, but her FY 2007 beneficiaries included Catholic organizations and the Sarasota chapter of the American Red Cross’ Disaster Relief Fund.
Other Floridians on the list:
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 3, 2009.