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Hilton gives $2.3bn to charity
27/12/2007 08:33 - (SA)
Los Angeles - Hotel magnate Barron Hilton will give $2.3bn, the bulk of his fortune, to charity, officials said on Wednesday.
Hilton, the 80-year-old grandfather of Paris Hilton, bequeathed the money to the Conrad N Hilton Foundation, a charity founded by his father in 1944.
"We are all exceedingly proud and grateful for this extraordinary commitment," Hilton's son Steven M Hilton, president and chief executive of the foundation, said in a statement.
"Working to alleviate human suffering around the globe, regardless of race, religion or geography, is the mandate of the foundation set by my grandfather ... and now reinforced by my father."
The funds will come from the sale of the Hilton Hotels Corp to The Blackstone Group, and the pending sale of Harrah's Entertainment.
The money will go into a trust but eventually will find its way to the foundation. Hilton, the chairperson of the foundation, pledged an immediate $1.2bn donation to the charity, with an estimated $1.1bn to follow after his death.
Hilton had indicated at a recent board meeting that he would follow in his father's footstep by leaving nearly all of his fortune to the trust when he died in 1979.
The charity has distributed more than $560m for programmes that house mentally ill homeless people, prevent substance abuse and increase access to safe water in Africa and Mexico.
A significant portion of the money helps the work of Catholic Sisters.
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South Africa
