December 26, 2007
Hilton Heir Pledges $1.2-Billion to Family Foundation and Promises More Money Later
By Maria Di Mento
The hotel mogul William Barron Hilton announced on Monday that he has pledged $1.2-billion to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, in Reno, Nev., and plans to give most of the rest of his fortune to the organization when he dies.
The $1.2-billion gift will push up the total value of the foundation and its affiliated charities to $4.3-billion, making it one of the wealthiest philanthropies in the United States. Before Mr. Hilton’s pledge, the foundation and its affiliated charities held more than $3.1-billion in assets, according to the foundation’s 2007 annual report.
All but 15 other grant-making institutions have that amount in assets, according to The Chronicle’s most-recent survey of wealthy foundations.
The foundation stands to grow bigger in years to come: Mr. Hilton, who is 80, recently told the foundation’s board members that he intends to bequeath 97 percent of his entire net worth to the philanthropy when he dies. He is estimated to have at least $1.1-billion more than the amount he awarded this week.
In pledging the bulk of his fortune to charity, Mr. Hilton, who is known as Barron, follows the path of his father, Conrad, who created the foundation in 1944 and left his entire estate to the foundation when he died in 1979.
Barron Hilton’s wealth has ballooned in recent months. He gained from a $26-billion deal announced in July in which the Blackstone Group agreed to buy the Hilton Hotels Corporation, and from a pending sale of Harrah’s Entertainment, in which Mr. Hilton owns shares, to Apollo Global Management and Texas Pacific Group Capital for $17.1-billion.
The Hilton foundation finances a range of activities, including efforts to prevent and treat blindness worldwide, improve water and sanitation systems in developing countries, curb drug abuse among young people, provide early childhood education to disabled children, and help homeless Americans find housing.
Mr. Hilton’s gift is one of the biggest donations of 2007. To see other big gifts made in the past year, see The Chronicle’s searchable database of donations made by individuals.
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He’s one of the great successful man whose heart with great passion for the people world wide I have admired. This is a really good model to other people. However, I would request him to help contribute a portion of his fund for environmetal care.
— Mounin Diep Jan 7, 04:35 AM #
I wish Baron many more years of life and trust in his personal philanthropy well beyond his efforts with the Conrad Hilton Foundation. He is the legacy of a true American family success story, and as he made the transition to run his father’s empire I hope he finds another Hilton to do the same before his passing.
— Robert M. Higginbotham II Jan 9, 07:36 AM #