NONPROFIT NEWS

The late Jack Lord of "Hawaii Five-0"

Jack and Marie Lord ranked third
in giving by all celebrities in 2006

According to the Giving Back Fund’s annual list of the 30 largest public donations made by celebrities, in 2006 the third largest bequest was by Jack and Marie Lord, who gave $40 million to the Hawai'i Community Foundation to benefit several local charities.

Jack Lord, best known as the character Steve McGarrett in the television series "Hawaii Five-0," died Jan. 21, 1998. Marie Lord, his spouse, died on Oct. 13, 2005. The $40 million bequest from their estate became the Jack and Marie Lord Fund at the Hawaii Community Foundation and will generate an estimated $1.6 million to $2 million a year to be divided among twelve nonprofits.

The Giving Back Fund encourages and advises on celebrity philanthropy and compiles this annual list to serve as an encouragement-by-example. The top 10 celebrity philanthropists in 2006:

  1. Oprah Winfrey, $58.3 million to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, Oprah’s Angel Network and other groups
  2. Geoffrey Beene, $44 million bequest to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
  3. Jack and Marie Lord, $40 million bequest to Hawaii Community Foundation
  4. Barbra Streisand, $11.75 million to Barbra Streisand Foundation, numerous civil liberties, environmental and civil rights organizations "dedicated to democratic values"
  5. Tiger Woods, $9.5 million to the Tiger Woods Learning Center, Earl D. Woods Sr. Scholarship Fund, and other Tiger Woods Foundation programs
  6. Rosie O'Donnell, $5.7 million to Katrina relief efforts including the Renaissance Village temporary shelter for Katrina victims, day care centers, a rehabilitation center in San Antonio, and a Habitat for Humanity subdivision in Baton Rouge
  7. Martha Stewart, $5 million to New York's Mt. Sinai Hospital for a center on healthy aging
  8. Carmelo Anthony, $4.28 million to CAF Youth Center in Baltimore, AAU Basketball, Syracuse University Recreational Center and other charities
  9. Pat and Shirley Boone, $3 million to Pepperdine University for the Graduate School of Education and Psychology Center for the Family
  10. LeRoy Neiman, $3 million to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to support a Master's class in figure drawing

Click here for the complete list.